Round 1, Game 1 Nuggetz

• Cautious optimism. That's what I'm left feeling after Game 1. The Nuggets showed a lot of maturity in how they stayed defensively focused in a game where Chauncey couldn't miss. The old Nuggets probably would have let the Hornets creep back into it once they got a big lead and started looking for highlight reel dunks and ally-oops, but there's just a little bit more focus with this group. Could be the arrival of Uncle Chauncey, could be 5 early post-season exits in a row, either way I'll take it.

• I'm sure this is covered in depth in every game recap, but the Nuggets dominated on a night when their two most consistent offensive weapons down the stretch (JR, Melo) had some serious butterflies. It was good to see Melo get a couple hoops both driving and pulling up late in the game, hopefully they'll settle into a rhythm now that Game 1 is out of the way.

• Melo showed the same growth that he had early in the season grabbing his 7 boards early in the game. As much as Chauncey has helped change the mindset of the team, when Melo is aggressive on the glass, things seem to go well for the Nuggets.

• Speaking of rebounding, Nene showed more life on the glass than he has in months, which bodes well in a series where the only physical rebounder on the Hornets (Tyson Chandler) is still recovering from an injury. The 14 rebound differential in the game can definitely be chalked up to the pride that Nene and Melo seemed to be taking on the boards.

• If you look at the shot-chart by quarter, you'll see the Hornets' shots moving further and further out as the game progresses. This can be attributed to the defensive contributions of the front-court trio of Nene, Birdman and KMart. The more frustrated the Hornets got by the physical interior play, the more they settled for outside jumpers.

• JR made nearly every shot that he took from inside the arc and missed every shot he took from 3-point range. I hope he looks at that and tries to be aggresive offensively in game 2. JR's 3's don't seem to start falling until he really gets into the flow of the game, and that never totally happened last night.

• Nice quiet night from Linas the Menace off the bench. It's nice when he can play a game with a few dunks and a few long-range tries with lots of hustle mixed in.

• The only thing that stands out to me as a negative looking at the box score is the turnovers. It's easy to forget about the necessary areas of improvement after a blowout win in the first game of a series, but the Nuggets racked up quite a few turnovers early in this game, which could spell disaster if the shots aren't falling.

• I'd like to see the Nuggets try to establish some offensive post-presence early in Game 2. Now that Nene has showed some of his mid-season rebounding form, maybe it's time to get him back into some of those 8 for 10 and 12 for 15 shooting nights too. They need to attack Chandler while he's still trying to regain his confidence. I'd like to see Chandler show up on a few Nene posters before this series heads down to New Orleans.

• Looking forward to Game 2 I will be very interested to see how this Nuggets team responds to such a huge victory. They handled themselves extremely well on the court last night, but now let's see how they do after a few days of hearing the media fawn over their performance. If a focused, defensive-minded team comes out of the gate on Wednesday night, then I think it's safe to say we've ushered in a new era of Nuggets Basketball and there's a good chance that we'll finally see a team that's able to live up to the level of talent on the roster. On the other hand, if we see a team trying to re-capture the hot shooting of last night with a little more focus on getting their points than stopping the Hornets from getting theirs, then I think it's safe to say there's still some room for growth. Regardless, Game 2 will be very telling, and like I said before, I'm cautiously optimistic that by this time on Thursday we'll be able to officially welcome a more mature version of the Denver Nuggets than we've seen in a long time.

edit:
I almost forgot the most important stat comparison of the night:

Renaldo Balkman: 3 Minutes Played
Ryan Bowen: DNP - Coach's Decision

If that keeps up, I don't think the Hornets have a chance...