Hornets 104, Nuggets 86
Cody Zeller scored a career-best 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds as visiting Charlotte routed Denver for its 10th victory in 13 games.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist added 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Hornets, who had a 57-44 rebounding edge. Al Jefferson and Jason Maxiell scored 14 points apiece and Lance Stephenson added a season-best 13 assists.
Danilo Gallinari scored 15 points and J.J. Hickson had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Nuggets, who were without power forward Kenneth Faried (illness) and have lost nine of their last 10 games. Ty Lawson had 10 points and nine assists and Wilson Chandler also had 10 points as Denver shot 35.9 percent from the field.
The Nuggets led 11-9 shortly before the midway point of the opening quarter and the Hornets took over and controlled the rest of the contest. Charlotte scored the final 12 points of the first quarter for a 30-15 lead and used a 14-0 burst in the second to increase the lead to 50-22 en route to a 62-30 halftime edge.
The Hornets started strong in the third quarter to make it a 36-point margin before the Nuggets went on a 9-4 quarter-ending run to trail 80-52 entering the final stanza. Charlotte’s lead was 33 points with 7:18 to play before Denver cut into the margin.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Nuggets lost 99-69 to Memphis on Thursday before trailing by more than 30 for a good chunk of this game. … Charlotte F Marvin Williams (concussion) sat out his second straight game. … Denver was 5-of-24 from 3-point range while the Hornets missed all 11 of their attempts.