Depletion allowance

There had been some concern that the Nuggets wouldn't make it out of Denver, what with the snowstorm and all, and indeed they didn't hit Oklahoma City until around 4 am. And apparently it wasn't all of them, either; only eight players hit the Ford Center. Then again, one of those eight was Allen Iverson, and Iverson can play 30, 40, 50 minutes without so much as breaking a sweat. (Twice in his career he's played 54 minutes.) So I wouldn't characterize the Nuggets as shorthanded.

The Hornets, on the other hand, were missing three starters and their primary reserve, and Jannero Pargo, starting in place of the out-for-four-weeks Chris Paul, managed to pick up his third foul barely two minutes into the second quarter.

Still, for all the vacancies, there was a heck of a lot of scoring, at least early on: at the half, the Nuggets led 59-55. Both teams exhibited a touch of Third-Quarter Drought— but the Bees had slightly less of it, outscoring Denver 17-16.

And then the Hornets' frustration boiled over, or something. At 6:36 left, the score was tied at 83-all; for the remainder of the game, the Nuggets would score only two field goals and two free throws, and the Bees won it going away, 99-89.

As it turned out, only eight Hornets would play tonight; six scored in double figures, with Tyson Chandler getting 10 points to go with 9 rebounds. Rasual Butler and Devin Brown led the charge with 20 and 19; lightly-used rookie forward Marcus Vinicius scored 4, his career high, in six minutes. For once, the Bees were fair at the line, hitting 18 of 23.

As for Iverson, he played 45 minutes, scoring a below-par 21; diminutive teammate Earl Boykins, reported at five-foot-five, led all scorers with 26.

And the Ford Center crowd, reported as about 180 over capacity, were loving it. Whether this provides a boost for the Hornets, who play at Dallas tomorrow, remains to be seen.

Addendum, next morning: Iverson takes the blame: "I stunk it up."

Posted at 10:22 PM to Net Proceeds