Nuggets Leave Madness for the NCAA

New Orleans (33-37) came into Denver (46-22) coming on the second game of a back to back.   On a day that provided many college upsets in the NCAA tourney, the Nuggets didn’t allow any March “madness” to happen on Thursday night. Denver dominated the Hornets from beginning to end and lead by double digits almost the entire game. Even with a large half time lead, Denver let down and New Orleans wasn’t able to make it a competitive game.

The quest for home court advantage is shrinking with 13 games left and every win is big.  Denver is currently on the second game of a three game home stand.  Denver is taking care of business at home as a big five game road trip that consists of two back to backs is on the horizon.  These two back to backs might be responsible for Denver’s playoff seeding when all is said and done.

Another game without head coach Karl, Denver played consistent ball and didn’t detour from its style of play.  New Orleans didn’t present much of a challenge as they simply didn’t show up with much desire to win and that won’t cut it playing the #2 team in the west that have a 30-5 home court record.

JR Smith continued to have tremendous energy off the bench 17 points.   When he plays at a consistent level, Smith takes pressure off Carmelo and Chauncey having to win easy winnable games towards the end of the regular season schedule.  This is valuable as Chauncey is a seasoned veteran and isn’t getting any younger.

With currently so much up in the air about the health of key players, Denver isn’t letting winnable games slip by them, which could very easily happen.  They continued to play George Karl’s fast paced, running game.  Nene had a solid night with 20 points, which was important now that the bench is now not as deep with Kenyon Martin’s absence.

The fourth quarter got to within 9 points, but Carmelo had a career high of 18 rebounds along with a game high 26 points to make sure the Nuggets came away with a win.

If Denver continues to play at a high level, things should fall in place nicely come playoff time.