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Nuggets vie to bounce back vs. Hornets

Mar 9, 2012 - 4:04 PM (Sports Network) - The playoff-hopeful Denver Nuggets hope to bounce back Friday night against the Western Conference-worst New Orleans Hornets.

Denver is coming off a painful 100-99 loss to Cleveland on Wednesday, falling to 1-1 on a season-high nine-game homestand. Rookie Kyrie Irving drove the length of the floor, weaved through three Nugget defenders in the paint, and banked in the game-winning layup with four seconds remaining in that one as Cleveland edged the Nuggets in a thriller.

Al Harrington paced the Nuggets with 22 points and Ty Lawson had 18, though he failed to convert a field goal attempt that would have won the game for Denver, which saw a four-game winning streak end in dramatic fashion.

Nuggets center Nene, starting for the first time since missing 10 games with a calf injury, had 13 points in the loss. Denver is now in seventh place in the Western Conference, a game ahead of both Minnesota and Houston.

"We're on our home court, we're in a good spot and we don't demand ourselves to play at a high intensity level to let everybody kind of celebrate where we are at," said Denver coach George Karl.

The Nuggets, who are 11-9 at Pepsi Center this season, will also entertain Memphis, Atlanta, Oklahoma City, Boston, Dallas and Detroit on their long residency.

The Hornets have lost three straight and are 0-2 on a four-game road trip after Wednesday's 99-98 setback in Sacramento. John Salmons' layup in the closing seconds lifted the Kings in that one.

Jarrett Jack scored 25 points, Trevor Ariza netted 20 and Chris Kaman had 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists for New Orleans, which is just 5-14 as the visitor on the season.

"We played well enough to lose," said Jack. "All those great things that you can point to, we still came up on the short end of things."

The Hornets' only win in 10 road games against teams with winning records was a 94-81 win over the Nuggets back on Jan. 9.