NBA playoffs: Hornets at Nuggets, Game 2 (Denver leads 1-0)
I’m not an NBA coach nor do I play one on television, but I might tell New Orleans Hornets coach Byron Scott to double-team Denver Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups in Game 2 of the teams’ Western Conference playoff series tonight.
Billups went nuts in Denver’s Game 1 113-84 blowout victory by hitting 8-of-9 from the 3-point line and finishing with 36 points. That’s nearly 19 points more than his season average, one short of his career high, a franchise record for playoff 3-pointers and just one shy of the NBA postseason record.
His Nuggets are 6-point favorites on WagerWeb.com to win Game 2, with an over/under of 198.
So what will Scott do? Well, he said he would put Chris Paul exclusively on Billups on Wednesday even though Paul gives up about 7 inches. Scott likes the fact that Paul is faster than Billups, and the coach wants his team to pick Billups up at the half-court line to limit those open 3-point shots.
Another problem for New Orleans was rebounding. The Nuggets had a 49-35 advantage, which was amazing considering that the largest edge either team had in the four regular-season games was plus-two, which came in the Nuggets’ 101-88 victory on March 25 at the New Orleans Arena.
And the final major issue for the Hornets was David West. The All-Star shot 4-of-16 and scored 12 points, nine fewer than his regular-season average, in that Sunday night Game 1 loss.
“I’ve just got to play better — that’s it,” West said. “I’ve got to be a little more aggressive and make some shots.”
Scott said his whole team was tentative on offense against a Denver defense that allowed 100.9 points per game in the regular season. The Hornets seemed to have issues with Denver’s physical style of play.
“We’re going to bring the same intensity and play as hard,” said the Nuggets’ Dahntay Jones, who was very physical with Paul – which Scott made a point of mentioning a few cheap shots. “People don’t like it when you play hard, people don’t like it when you’re physical.”
Still, with all their problems, New Orleans was within single digits until the Nuggets began a 21-0 run late in the third quarter.
WagerWeb.com Key Trends
* Favorite is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings.
* Hornets are 7-3 ATS in the last 10 meetings in Denver.
* Over is 9-4 in the last 13 meetings in Denver.
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