Nuggets annihilate Hornets by 58 points
Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets looked like the only ones having fun in this party town of New Orleans.
Anthony scored all of his 26 points in the first three quarters, and Denver thoroughly dismantled the New Orleans Hornets 121-63 on Monday night to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
The New Orleans Arena was mostly empty by the end of the third quarter, when Denver led 89-50 on its way to matching the most lopsided victory in NBA playoff history. The Minneapolis Lakers beat the St. Louis Hawks 133-75 in 1956.
"I wouldn't have thought that we would win by 58 points," Anthony said. "I never thought anyone could win by 58 points in the playoffs."
Looking twice as quick as New Orleans on both ends of the court, the Nuggets stifled Hornets all-star Chris Paul, whose 4 points and 6 assists amounted to one of the worst games of his career.
The Nuggets can close out the series at home in Game 5 on Wednesday night. They will if they play as well as they did in Game 4, when they led by 20 early and by more than that most of the second half.
Lakers 107, Jazz 96: Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are moving on in the NBA playoffs - as if that was really in doubt.
With Bryant making everything from 3-pointers to a fadeaway jumper while falling on his backside, the Lakers ran away from visiting Utah to finish the opening-round series in five games.
Bryant scored 31 points and Lamar Odom had 26 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, who earned several days of rest before meeting the winner of the Portland-Houston series.
By late in the third quarter, the Lakers were toying with the Jazz. Bryant made a layup, hit a 3-pointer and fed Gasol for a slam dunk. Odom added a bucket and just like that it was 80-58.
The Jazz cut the lead to 93-86 with 4:37 left but Bryant hit a turnaround jumper and Odom finished a fast break with a slam dunk to fend off Utah's late run.
Hawks 81, Heat 71: Zaza Pachulia - with a black right eye for his trouble - finished with 12 points and 18 rebounds, and visiting Atlanta raced out to a huge first-half lead and frustrated Dwyane Wade endlessly in beating Miami, tying the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at two games apiece.