New Orleans Hornets at Denver Nuggets Game 5 Preview

Written April 29, 2009 by Black Widow

hornets-nuggets-game-5-preview-042909 The Denver Nuggets’ historic blowout win of the New Orleans Hornets in Game 4 left more than just the losers red-faced, it left Chauncey Billups stunned as well. After recently winning the NBA’s Sportsmanship Award, Billups claimed that it was almost embarrassing for his Nuggets to be up by that much in some strange sort of way. He said that he plays with integrity and doesn’t want to show up his opponents, but at the same time his team wanted to continue to play hard for the full 48 minutes. Play hard they did, in a 121-63 shellacking of the Hornets in Game 4. For Wednesday’s game, NBA odds makers have listed Denver as a 10.5 point favorite over New Orleans, with the total set for 197.5 points.

Denver’s 58-point win matched the most lopsided victory in NBA Playoff history, trumping the Minneapolis Lakers’ 133-75 blowout of the St. Louis Hawks back in 1956. But it did mark the largest margin of victory of any road team in the league’s history. More importantly, the win gave the Nuggets a 3-1 lead in this best-of-seven series. Denver is now only 1 win away from winning a playoff series for the first time since 1994. The last time the Nuggets won a best-of-seven series was all the way back in 1985.

Billups wants his team to act like the roles are reversed in Game 5 tonight to avoid a letdown. The leader of the Detroit Pistons during six straight trips to the Eastern Conference Finals over the last six seasons, Billups claims that close-out games are the hardest to win. Then you add to it the nature of their win in Game 4, which head coach Goerge Karl calls the most complete and efficient game of his coaching career, and the Nuggets are certain the Hornets will come out and play for big-time pride in Game 5.

Hornets’ All-Star David West knows the pressure is on Denver to close out. He states that his team has to come out and leave everything on the floor to keep the game close. If they can keep it close, like they did in a Game 3 win by 2 points, the pressure will be on Denver in the fourth quarter. Billups is worried about the team being overconfident heading into Game 5, but that’s why he’s one of the best in the business and you can be certain he will do everything in his power to make sure that doesn’t happen. Role player Chris Anderson says his team has already put the lopsided Game 4 win in the rearview mirror, but that’s easier said than done.

While the banged-up Hornets scrapped their practice plans Tuesday, the Nuggets had only a short film session, one they thoroughly enjoyed. To say Denver stopped All-Star guard Chris Paul would be an understatement. Paul scored only 4 points while dishing out 6 assists in arguably the worst performance of his playing career. The waves of double-teams forced him to cough up six turnovers as well. Karl said he won’t change his strategy in Game 5, and noted that in his first year as an assistant head coach in the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs blew a 3-1 lead to the Washington Bullets in 1978.

Billups won the Joe Dumars’ Trophy as the league’s top sportsman the same year he returned to Denver. Billups was born and raised in Denver, and played his collegiate ball as a Colorado Buffalo. The Nuggets sent Allen Iverson to the Pistons a week into the season, allowing Billups to transform his new team from an afterthought to the second seed in the West. Now the Nuggets are on the cusp of ending five straight seasons with crushing first-round exits. Let’s see if they can close it out in Game 5.

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