For much of the night, the Denver Nuggets sleepwalked through their match up against the depleted New Orleans Hornets, launching ill-fated threes and allowing the Hornets to score nearly at will. But after slowly chipping away at New Orleans' lead, the Nuggets broke through in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Hornets by eight en route to an eight point victory, 96-88.
The Nuggets finished the game shooting only 5-21 from three, but they improved their field goal shooting as the game went on, finishing at 46% as a team. The Nuggets also used the free throw line to their advantage, notching 17 makes (on 22 shots) to the Hornets' eight. Danilo Gallinari led the Nuggets with 23 points, and Denver also continued to get solid production off the bench from Al Harrington, who finished with 14 points and six rebounds for the second unit.
The Nuggets' road trip will continue tomorrow in Texas vs. the San Antonio Spurs.
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