Game On Hornets @ Nuggets

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Published: February 1, 2013

The Hornets Super Bowl road trip hasn’t gone too well so far with consecutive losses. Tonight doesn’t get any easier with a tough test in Denver against the Nuggets. This will be the second matchup between these two teams with the Hornets falling 84-102 on the road. I’ll be honest the Hornets don’t matchup too well against the Nuggets, but the team has played well despite the losses so I wouldn’t say grabbing a win is out of the question–especially since Gordon should be playing. Here’s what I’m playing close attention to.

Three Things to Watch For

Offensive Pace

The Nuggets play with the second fastest pace in the league. The Hornets hold down the other end of the spectrum ranking 29th. I’m not going to say the Hornets need to try and slow down the game to have a chance to win. Instead I’m curious to see how they play on the road against a faster paced team. Monty has shown he can have this offense looking deadly, however he doesn’t consistently game plan like that. Will he make adjustments during the game if the Hornets get into a shoot out? Or will the team stick to what they’ve been doing?

Shoot From Deep

The Nuggets rank at the bottom of the league against defending the three-point shot. Well the Hornets have this guy named Ryan Anderson who is pretty good at just that. Vasquez has been in a three-point slump but I’d like to see him come out shooting. Expect lots of pin downs and fake pick and rolls with Anderson flaring out to the three-point line.

The Transition Plan

If the pace stat didn’t tell you, the Nuggets like to run. So what’s the Hornets gameplan to defend in transition? Do they crash the offensive boards to try and prevent a fastbreak? Or do they get back as quickly as possible to try and negate any man advantage?

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