NEW ORLEANS — This was big. Coming off a miserable road loss at Phoenix, and playing without the suspended Nene, the Nuggets scored the most-clutch win of the season, 101-88 against the Hornets at New Orleans Arena.
With the victory, the Nuggets (46-26) remain in fourth place in the Joan Rivers-tight Western Conference. Moreover, Denver finished the season series tied with the Hornets (44-26), so the tiebreaker will now be determined by conference record. It’s possible said tiebreaker could determine whether or not Denver has home court in a 4-5 seeded series with New Orleans. But if Denver had lost Wednesday, the Hornets would have had the tiebreaker for sure.
Denver forward Carmelo Anthony continued his scoring splurge, notching 29 for the second-straight game. In Anthony’s his two previous outings against New Orleans, Anthony shot well — 10-for-17 and 8-for-13 – and on Wednesday he was 10-for-24..
He came out firing, scoring 13 points in the first quarter, then went scoreless in the second, but bounced-back nicely with 14 in the third. Anthony did an excellent job at creating his own shot and sharply hitting jumpers, just as he did one Wednesday ago at Memphis, when he scored 35 points in another road win.
One of the Nuggets problems this season has been free throw shooting. They miss a lot. Entering Wednesday, the Nuggets were 20th in the NBA, shooting 76 percent. But on Wednesday, the Nuggets finished 23-for-24 from the line. Chris Andersen had two free throws in the final minute to tied the Nuggets all-time record for makes without a miss, but he missed his second attempt, and the team finished with the one blemish.
Guard Chauncey Billups put up a plump scoring line on Wednesday – 26 points, six rebounds, six assists.
And early in the fourth quarter, he hit a 3-pointer and a long 2 to set the tone of the quarter. Then with 8:48 in the fourth came the play of the day, the Nuggets beautiful executing passing around the perimeter until the ball ended up in Billups hot hands in the right corner, just near the Hornets’ bench. The 3-pointer gave Denver a 91-73 lead. The Hornets called timeout; some fans called it a night.
