Denver sends New Orleans fishin'

Denver took care of business at home closing out their series with the New Orleans Hornets in yet another dominating victory, 107-86. Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 34 points as he look focused at the chase of advancing to the second round for the first time in his 6 year career. Chauncey Billups exuded that same focus as it seemed to rub off on the entire Nugget team. Billups added 13 points and 12 assists. The Nuggets shot 51% from the field. J.R Smith continued is offensive exploits with 20 points of the bench against the team that once drafted him. David West was a lone bright spot for the Hornets, finishing with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Chris Paul continually saw different bodies with length all over him. Denver switched a lot of pick and role screens were athletic and long forwards like Kenyon Martin and Chris "Birdman" Anderson. Denver meets Dallas in the second round Sunday May 3 3:30 ET on ABC

Hornets get one at home

The New Orleans Hornets held on to beat the Denver Nuggets 95-93. New Orleans sloppy play down the stretch nearly cost them the contest. Chris Paul led the Hornets with 32 points and 12 assists. Rasual Butler was effective as well scoring 17 points on just 8 shots. The game was very physical as it has been for the entire series. There were 58 personal foul calls, 29 a piece for each team. Three flagrant fouls were called and one technical as well. Carmelo Anthony led the Nuggets with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Chauncey Billups somewhat came down to earth finishing with 16 points on 3-10 shooting. You can count on more physical play in Game 4 of the series Monday April 27 on NBATV

N.O. still has NO answer for Billups and Denver

Chauncey Billups continued where he left off in game 1, finishing game 2 with 31 points as the Nuggets blew out the New Orleans Hornets once again 108-93. Carmelo Anthony chipped in 22 points in the Denver win. David West of the Hornets started off much more aggressive scoring 21 points on 9-20 shooting along with 10 rebounds. Chris Paul added 14 points and 13 assists but was no where near enough for the Hornets to get over the hump. The Hornets will regroup and try to use their home crowd to get back into the series as games 3 and 4 shift to New Orleans.

Home Team Blowouts

Both the Atlanta Hawks and Denver Hawks thoroughly destroyed their respective opponents in game 1 of their 1st round series. Atlanta beat the Miami Heat 90-64, while Denver beat the New Orleans Hornets 113-84.

Josh Smith had highlight dunk after highlight dunk after highlight dunk, as the Heat looked helpless to stop him or any of his teammates. Smith had 23 points and led all 5 starters who finished in double digit scoring. Dwyane Wade struggled scoring only 19 points on 8-21 shooting.

Chauncey Billups introduced his playoff savvy to Denver and more importantly to the Hornets as well. Billups knocked down 8 3pt field goals on route to tying a NBA playoff record for most 3's in a playoff game. Billups sparked the Nuggets early and often while finishing with 36 points and 8 assists. Sixth Man of the year candidate J.R. Smith sealed the blowout with a relentless offense effort down the stretch tallying 19 points off the bench. Chris Paul paced the Hornets with 21 points, 11 assists and 5 rebounds.

Judging from the competitive nature of both Paul and Wade, the outcomes of game 2 in their respective series will surely be much different. Both series' resume play Wed. April 22.