"My point to them, before (watching) the tape and after the tape, was they played a regular-season game in the playoffs," Karl said. "The intensity was controlled by them on too many possessions. We did some things well, but the mistakes we made were not covered by our intensity."

So guess what happened just after the two teams tipped off Monday night? The Hornets got off to a quick 2-0 lead on a jumper by David West just 41 seconds into the game before the Nuggets quickly turned up the intensity.

And this time, it was playoff intensity.

After West's bucket, the Nuggets outscored the Hornets by a whopping 60 points in an unbelievable 121-63 thrashing in front of a once-festive New Orleans crowd.

Stunned and mostly silent from midway through the first quarter, they witnessed history as Denver's 58-point win equaled the largest margin of victory in NBA postseason play.

It got so ugly that some who stuck around until late in the contest were chanting, "We want 60!" when backup guard Antonio Daniels stepped to the free-throw line with the Hornets stuck on 59 points with 2:55 left.

When he sank the two free throws to push their total to 61, it matched the Nuggets' score from the first half - bringing a sarcastic cheer from the fans.

But it was an unsightly effort all the way around for the Hornets, who are down 3-1 as they head back to Denver on Wednesday night for what could be the clincher for the Nuggets.

From the start, the Hornets let the Nuggets push them around just as they had been in losing the first two games by 44 points.

"I don't think I've ever had a team play defense like that, and I had some great defensive teams in Seattle," Karl said. "Every player that played had a plus mentality to themselves."

The Nuggets wound up limiting the Hornets to just 17 field goals and 31.5 percent shooting, holding New Orleans' starters to 10 baskets in 34 attempts. They led by 21 after the first quarter, 22 at halftime, 38 after the third period and by 58 at the final buzzer.

"They started the game out really aggressive," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "They tried to take us out of everything on both ends of the court, and we didn't react well to it.

"I don't think they were overly aggressive," he said of a game that saw five technicals called in the first half for rough play. "They were just physically ready for this game. Their intensity level was sky-high and I told our guys in the first quarter that if we didn't match it, it would be over real quick."

And they have the marks to prove it.