The Hornets continue their roadtrip, traveling to the Mile-High city to take on the Nuggets, where they hope to end Denver’s 3-game winning streak.

Keys to the game

• Remember there is an opponent three point line too
• Limit offensive rebounds
• Get to the line

Perimeter Defense

It seems like I was just writing a post about the Hornets and their great defense.  What a difference a chain of four games can make, as the Hornets are now posting an abysmal defensive rating behind horrible perimeter defense and a sustained barrage of threes I don’t think I’ve ever experienced.

The good news about tonight’s game is Denver is one of the poorest three-point shooting teams in the league, connecting on 31.3% of their threes.  Of course, neither the Pacers nor Suns were particularly good at three point shooting coming into their games against the Hornets, so here’s hoping the Hornets don’t remedy that mark for them.

The Nuggets Offensive Rebounding

For a team that was a dominant offensive squad last year, the Nuggets are only league average this season.  They post the 18th best eFG%, are 21st at turnovers, and 24th at free throw rate – all numbers that fail to strike fear into your heart.  They are, however, the best offensive rebounding team in the league, grabbing an amazing 35.6% of missed shots.  With the Hornets managing a below-average defensive rebound rate, this is something the Hornets will have to put special focus on in order to come away with a win.

Cheap, Easy Points

On the defensive side, the Nuggets are again mediocre to bad at shot defense, forcing turnovers and defensive rebounding –  but again are good at one thing:  They allow very few free throws.  Since drawing free throws is actually one of the Hornets better offensive traits this season, that’s the last of the Hornets keys to the game.  They need to get to the line to make this a game.

The Nuggets are still finding themselves, and normally the Hornets would have a great chance to come in and take this one off them, but New Orleans is so badly undermanned at this point.  Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis and are out.

Prediction:  Hornets scrap until the end, fall by 8.

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