DENVER (Ticker) -- The New Orleans Hornets are staggering home.
The Hornets were blown out for the second time in as many nights, absorbing a 116-94 loss to the Denver Nuggets as rookie Carmelo Anthony led a balanced attack with 21 points.
The Hornets began their four-game western swing with wins over Phoenix and Golden State on consecutive nights, running their road record to 9-4. But they spent the entire weekend in Los Angeles and have looked like they were in La-La Land.
"We've had a departure from who we were the first two games of the trip," Hornets coach Tim Floyd admitted.
"It's a tale of two different teams on this road trip," said Hornets guard Baron Davis, who scored 25 points. "First two games, that's who we've been all season. These last two games, I don't know what this team is."
On Monday, the Hornets took a 109-80 beating from the Clippers. One night later, they never led and trailed by 29 points after just 18 minutes as they were chased out of town by the Nuggets.
"I think our bodies (were) a little tired from last night," New Orleans guard Darrell Armstrong said. "They played well and they've been playing well all year."
Voshon Lenard and reserve Rodney White scored 19 points each, Nene added 16 and 11 rebounds and Marcus Camby had 14 and 12 for Denver, which shot 52 percent (44-of-84) from the field and had 38 fast-break points.
"I thought they were terrific in transition," Floyd said. "They came out with a lot of energy. I thought that we shot ourselves in the foot by shooting it on one pass, long shots, long rebounds in the first five or six possessions of the game."
Camby scored six points as Denver sprinted to a 19-4 lead. The Nuggets held a 30-14 lead after one period, their best defensive opening quarter of the season.
Denver opened the second period with a 19-6 burst. Nene's dunk made it 49-20 with 5:50 to go before halftime, and New Orleans got no closer than 16 points thereafter.
"We did a lot of good things out there," Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "We played very unselfish basketball."
"It was a snowball that kept going," Floyd said.
The Nuggets beat the Hornets for the first time in five meetings. Denver has won eight of its last nine games at the Pepsi Center, where it is 10-2 this season.
