Game: Nov 4: Hornets at Nuggets

tremaine · Nov 4, 2007

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November 2, 2007 @ 8:00pm EDT, 6:00 pm MDT
Pepsi Center, Denver, CO
ALT TV, KKFN Radio
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Denver Nuggets
(2-0)


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New Orleans Hornets
(2-0)


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<h4 align="center">Projected Starters</h4>
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PG Allen Iverson SG Yakhouba Diawara

SF Carmelo AnthonyPF Kenyon Martin C Marcus Camby


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PG Chris Paul SG Morris Peterson

SF Peja Stojakovic PF David West C Tyson Chandler


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<h4>Season Stats</h4>
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<td class="strong">Scoring</td>
<td>109.5PPG</td>
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<td class="strong">Field Goal %</td>
<td>46.3%</td>
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<td class="strong">3-Point %</td>
<td>34.2%</td>
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<td class="strong">Rebounds</td>
<td>49.5 RPG</td>
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<td class="strong">Assists</td>
<td>26.0 APG</td>
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<td class="strong">Scoring</td>
<td>108.5PPG</td>
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<td class="strong">Field Goal %</td>
<td>53.6%</td>
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<td class="strong">3-Point %</td>
<td>45.7%</td>
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<td class="strong">Rebounds</td>
<td>42.0 RPG</td>
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<td class="strong">Assists</td>
<td>22.0 APG</td>
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<h4>Season Team Leaders</h4>
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<td class="strong">Points</td>
<td>Anthony 32.5 PPG</td>
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<td class="strong">Rebounds</td>
<td>Camby 18.0 RPG</td>
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<td class="strong">Assists</td>
<td>Iverson 11.0 APG</td>
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<td class="strong">Points</td>
<td>Chris Paul 20.5 PPG</td>
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<td>Tyson Chandler 12.0 RPG</td>
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<td class="strong">Assists</td>
<td>Chris Paul 9.0 APG</td>
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<h4>Key Matchup: PG - Allen Iverson v Chris Paul</h4>

v
One of the more interesting point guard matchups you will see this season, both are smart players who can adjust their game to meet the specific situation at hand. But Iverson is much more experienced, more aggressive, and doesn't carry (we hope) as much of a scoring burden for the Nuggets as Paul carries for the Hornets. And Iverson has more freedom to make adjustments from George Karl than Chris Paul has from Byron Scott. Another key matchup is at Center: Marcus Camby vs Tyson Chandler. Tyson has 2 inches and 10 pounds on Camby but Camby has the veteran smarts and is playing his best basketball ever. As in all situations where Camby is matched against a bigger player, at least until Kenyon Martin is ready to go full out, the Nuggets are cruising for a bruising if Nene is absent without leave. 
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<h4>Keys to the Game</h4>
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<ul>[*]Stay Cool and Confident - The Nuggets are off to a calm, cool, and confident start, similar to last year, and they need to stay that way. They need to keep turnovers and 3-point attempts within reason. 
[*]Distribute the Ball if at least a couple players besides Melo and A.I. are hitting- I have decided to modify this key to victory because, as Iverson realized in the Wolves game, it doesn't make much sense to distrubute the ball alot if no one is able to hit, which happens all too often to the Nuggets. Iverson, in the first two games, as already demonstrated how you make sure you win with the two different situations. So A.I. should evaluate the Kleiza-Najera-Wilks-? situation during the second quarter and halftime and distribute to these players more or less depending on whether they are hitting shots or not. If they are not hitting, A.I. knows what to do, and Paul is not going to be able to stop him.
[*]Somebody's going to have help Camby deal with Chandler-West-Stojakovic in the post.- That somebody is supposed to be Nene, but if he's still out of condition, Martin and Melo are going to have to step it up. Camby, of course, should continue to rebound and block the hell out of the ball.[/list]
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<ul>[*]Get Chris Paul into the lane as much as possible - Aside from setting up a lot of different scoring plays, this has the side benefit of possibly wearing Iverson out.
[*]Go all out from 3-point land- The Hornets are off and running as a good passing and 3-point shooting team, and the Nuggets are simply bad at defending the three, and not a good 3-point shooting team themselves as of yet.
[*]Try to rattle Iverson or double team Melo- If you don't do either, you are asking for trouble. Go for steals against Iverson on defense and screen him out a lot on offense. And you might want to double team Iverson a few times and hope the open man will miss, which is a good bet with the Nuggets. [/list]
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<h4 align="center">Projected Starters</h4>
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<td>Home Team X Factor </td>
<td>Road Team X Factor </td>
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<h4>Prediction</h4>
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No team is an easy win for the Nuggets, and a team like the Hornets, with five solid and relatively consistent starters, is especially dangerous to the Melo-A.I.-Camby dominated Nuggets. While they have no veteran superstars as of yet, the Hornets have built a team that features quality starters at all five positions, while the Nuggets have three superstar starters, a rehab work in progress at the 4-spot, and a big problem at the 2-spot. Beyond the starting five, there isn't too much to get Nuggets fans worried about on the Hornet's roster. Once again, Melo, A.I., and Camby will be called on to carry the load and scrape out a victory against the starting Hornets. This is the kind of game where the home court advantage can come in very handy, so the Nuggets will have to hope that their fans are loud enough to disrupt the concentration of the Hornets. It's either going to be a very close win for the Nuggets or a Hornets win of up to a dozen points or so. Don't tick me off GK: stop panicking and pulling the plug on players who have played well in recent games after only 6-7 minutes.

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NUGGETS INJURIES OUT: Anthony Carter suffered a 3rd metacarpal fracture on his right hand and underwent successful surgery on 10/10. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks OUT: Chucky Atkins suffered a severe right groin strain at Phoenix on 10/25 and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks. HORNETS INJURIES: NO Injuries Reported.

GArenas · Nov 4, 2007

This should be an exciting game, Chris Paul and his Hornets have started off the season strong and I hope they continue to play at this level of basketball. Meanwhile, the Nuggets are finally coming off a training camp with Allen Iverson on their team. This will be a very close matchup but I think the Hornets are going to take this because of their more balanced offensive play.

Answer_AI03 · Nov 4, 2007

123-107 Nuggets win. Iverson 35 pts, 8 Assists, Melo-27 pts, 6 rbs, Camby 11 pts, 16 rbs, 5 blks

Shapecity · Nov 4, 2007

I have to admit Denver looks like they've taken a step in becoming a powerhouse team in the West. They were very good after the AI acquisition last year and with him and Melo together all season long Denver is going to challenge for a top 3 seed.

They don't even have Nene at full strength either, and KMart is limited to a max of 20 minutes per game. If those two guys get back to full strength watch out for Denver.

This should be a fast paced high scoring game with plenty of highlights. These teams almost mirror one another, except when you look at the Melo-Peja matchup. That's a nightmare matchup for Peja and the Hornets. Melo has expanded his passing game so he could rack up a career high in assists tonight if he drives in, Chandler goes for the block and Melo dumps the pass off to the cutter for an easy basket.

Another advantage for Denver is Camby's ability to make jumpshots from the top of the key. This is going to force Chandler out of his comfort zone in the paint and the Nuggets can get a lot of back door buckets running cross screens on the baseline. The Hornets might be better off playing zone defense with Mo Pete shadowing Melo.

cpawfan · Nov 4, 2007

Nuggets offense was horrible tonight. Didn't help at all that Wilks hurt his hamstring in the first half forcing AI to play the entire second half.

Only good thing I saw was that Nene looked a lot better and Kenyon is looking very good.

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Game: Nov 4: Hornets at Nuggets

tremaine To Win, Be Like Fitz

GArenas Wiz Fo Champz

Answer_AI03 JBB JustBBall Member

Shapecity S2/JBB Teamster Staff Member Administrator

cpawfan Monsters do exist

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Game: Nov 4: Hornets at Nuggets

tremaine To Win, Be Like Fitz

GArenas Wiz Fo Champz

Answer_AI03 JBB JustBBall Member

Shapecity S2/JBB Teamster Staff Member Administrator

cpawfan Monsters do exist

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