(Denver-CO) Pure ascendancy is the only way to concisely summarize last night’s performance over the Hornets. The Denver Nuggets completely dominated New Orleans in their own building and tied an NBA record for largest margin of victory in a playoff game with a 58-point spread over the Hornets, 121-63.

Much like in game three, the Nuggets swarmed all over the Hornets like an ant pile immediately after the jump. David West broke the game open with a mid-range jumper before  Kenyon Martin fired up Denver’s engines with a thunderous dunk as the Nuggets proceeded to rip the game wide open with a 19-4 run over the next six minutes of the first half.

Still hungry, and perhaps a little bit ashamed of blowing a 22-6 lead in game three, the Nuggets never stopped feasting on the Hornets. Chris Paul’s short floater finally gave the Hornets eight points with 5:52 to play in the first before Denver continued to pound NOLA into a dumbfounded state with another 17-7 spurt to conclude the first quarter of game four leading, 36-15. George Karl played all five of his starters for the entirety of the first quarter minus 43 seconds of Chris Andersen substituting for Nene. And who could blame him? Dahntay Jones played Chris Paul so tough that my game companions and I actually anointed him with a new nickname, “The Hound Dog.”

Fitting right? Considering all he did was completely hound CP3 over all 94 feet of the floor.

In fact, Dahntay Jones completely took Chris Paul out of this game. In the first quarter, Paul only scored two paltry points on 1-5 shooting with The Hound Dog all over him like a polyester suit on Craig Sager. CP3 couldn't do anything, and to tell you the truth, I think the officiating crew secretly loved every minute of it. The reason why I make such a bold statement is due to the physicality Dahntay was using to disrupt Paul. Usually, a star of such shine as Paul warrants calls with well-timed glares here or a flop there, but against a workman like Dahntay Jones putting in the kind of yeoman performance he did the referees laid off their whistles and let The Hound Dog hound.

Once the second quarter was underway, Carmelo and the Denver reserves didn’t pull off the throttle on either end. ‘Melo opened up the quarter with six straight points to push the Denver lead to 22 points, 42-20, and the rest is nothing more than gratuitous ass kicking. The Nuggets led by just as many at the break, 61-39, and the Hive was shaken as if someone had busted out the garden hose and was letting the stream soak the nest before an unavoidable collision with the ground below. The Denver defense was stifling allowing just eleven made field goals in the first half while limiting New Orleans to just 33% shooting, including a tepid 1-8 from downtown. The Denver offense was high-octane. The Nuggets connected on a blistering 61% of their field goals, including 3-7 from three and compiled 14 assists on 25 field goals. And, had it not been for NOLA making 14-16 of their free-throw attempts in the second quarter, the score could have been even more demoralizing for the Hornets with the kind of spectacular overall performance by Denver. 

Think about that for a second…

The Hornets scored just 39 points in the first half and 16 of those points came at the free-throw line. This means that the Nuggets gave up just 26 points in live-action play and that, Nuggets Nation, is a testament to what kind of defensive effort the Nuggets manufactured. Chris Paul was held to four points, three assists, and forced into three turnovers while playing all 24 minutes of the first half. David West and Peja Stojakovic each scored eight points in the first half, but each scored half of their points at the free-throw line. Tyson “The Goon” Chandler didn’t score and managed just two rebounds. And, in the only bright spot for NOLA, James Posey scored twelve points in 17 minutes of burn in the first half, but that performance was akin to a wet paper bag trying to stop a freight train from barreling down the tracks.

All of this futility is due to the fact that the Nuggets were on fire! Carmelo led the way with 17 first half points, four assists, and three rebounds. Chauncey and Nene (Who adds complexity to Lil Wayne’s question of, “Ok, you’re a goon, but what’s a goon to a goblin?”) each added ten points with Mr. Big Shot handing out five assists and Big Brazil a perfect 4-4 from the field. Even The Hound Dog got into the scoring act with seven points in his 13 minutes in the first half!

Needless to say, the third quarter showcased the continuation of the first half butchering and at its conclusion the Nuggets were leading by 38 points, 88-50. George Karl was able to pull his starting five and most of his second line by the beginning of the fourth quarter because at this point only the most optimistic Hornets fans remained in the building.

And here’s some numbers that sum up just how bad of a beating it was:

(27-41) That’s the number of turnovers the Nuggets forced and how many points they translated to.

(41-32) That’s how dominant the Nuggets were in the battle of the boards.

(29-10) The huge discrepancy in the number of Denver assists compared to that of New Orleans.

(15-10) Denver’s number of thefts to that of the Hornets.

(25%) The percentage margin the Nuggets (56%) out shot the Hornets (31%) by.

(74-37) Denver’s starters combined offensive output to that of the New Orleans’ starters.

(47-26) Denver’s bench combined offensive output to that of the New Orleans’ bench.

(13-0) Nene’s offensive schooling of Tyson “The Goon” Chandler who, by the way, did nothing but push and shove people on the defensive end and then look at the officials like Alfred E. Newman as if he and his team had nothing to worry about.

(3) The number of points Denver needed to score in the second half to win this game!

By the end of regulation, I was just happy a donnybrook hadn’t broken out as the Nuggets, in what some people may deem running up the score, hit four more three’s in the fourth quarter to nearly push their margin of victory to 60 points!

Carmelo led all scorers with a game-high 26 points, seven assists, six rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. Chauncey added a quiet 17 points and eight assists with just one turnover. Nene, who only played two minutes in the second half, finished with 13 points, two rebounds, and two steals. And if I’m going to exalt Dahntay Jones’ defense I have to also mention K-Mart’s. Kenyon Martin was just as stingy on David West as Dahntay Jones was on Chris Paul. Kenyon played 33 minutes in game four and only scored six points, but put the deadbolt on West defensively. West scored only 14 points in 30 minutes on 4-10 shooting.

Then there’s the performance of Dahntay Jones. The Hound Dog, in a head-to-head  NBA anomaly that I’m sure will never again be repeated, outscored Chris Paul 12-4 in what was CP3’s worst playoff, and perhaps overall, game of his career. There’s not enough adjectives in the thesaurus for me to use to describe how much pleasure I received from watching Jones blanket Paul up and down the floor. With every possession, Jones was applauding the disruption he was causing Paul which got into the mind of CP3 and, furthermore, shook the confidence of the Hornets and fueled Denver’s merciless manhandling.

In all, seven different Nuggets finished in double figures offensively in as well-rounded of a performance as the Nuggets Nation has seen all year long. I say this because while the box score is bloated on Denver’s side there is not a single double-double to be had which indicates an even distribution of contribution in almost every category but points.

So, the rhetorical question is, “Where do the Nuggets go from here?” Well, the answer to that is back to the Pepsi Center where I would be shocked to see the Hornets push this series to a game six back in the Big Easy. Travel agents of Hornet players are probably already busy booking off-season trips as this series, for all intents and purposes, is over.

Bring on the Mavericks…

Go Nuggets!

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