The Denver Nuggets start a four-game road trip out east with a Monday contest against the New Orleans Hornets, who are currently one spot behind the Nuggets in the Western Conference playoff standings. The Nuggets are 0-2 this season against the Hornets, dropping the second game of the season in October and the most recent one in January. This will be their last regular season contest and, as San Diego State showed BYU over the weekend, the third time may be the charm.
Both those losses came when Carmelo Anthony was in a Nuggets uniform, and the new Nuggets team has gone 7-2 since that trade. They won their last two games convincingly. The first was a road victory over the Phoenix Suns, 116-97, and the other was a 30-point victory over the Pistons, 131-101.
The Hornets are on their own two-game winning streak with a one-point victory over the Dallas Mavericks, 93-92, and then a 12-point win over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday. In his first game back from concussion, point guard Chris Paul scored 33 points, dished the ball out for 15 assists and made five assists. He's averaged 19.0 points, 6.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds against the Nuggets this season.
Tipoff inside the New Orleans Arena is at 6:00 p.m. MT