Still No Worries for Nuggets

Less than eight minutes into Saturday's Game 3, the Hornets were down 16 points to the Denver Nuggets. But thanks to a big-time effort by point guard Chris Paul, the Hornets overcame that deficit and ended up hanging on for a two-point win.

Conventional wisdom suggests the Hornets are right back in the series, now down just two games to one. But they've still got a lot of work to do and many obstacles and challenges to overcome.

In fact, the Nuggets still have plenty of reasons to be optimistic, while the Hornets' margin for error remains small. In short, the Hornets still have some problems ... and here are five of them:

-- David West isn't quite himself. Perhaps it's the ankle injury he played through late in the regular season, but West isn't finishing on the interior and he seems tentative with his face-up jumper. It doesn't help that Denver has big and physical bodies to throw out there against West.

-- Chris Paul is getting keyed on. Paul had a breakthrough Game 3, scoring 32 points and handing out 12 assists, but Dahntay Jones isn't going anywhere and neither is Chauncey Billups. Paul is going to need three more step-up games, and that isn't easy when the entire defense is focused on you. It's more likely that Paul wears down than comes up with three more peformances like the one on Saturday.

-- The Hornets' bench needs to do more, and it's already done more than expected. No doubt, James Posey and Sean Marks had a hand in New Orleans' victory. And anytime the Hornets get production out of their bench it's a good thing. But the odds are not good that Posey and Marks can stay consistent the remainder of the series. Posey is clearly laboring with an injury and has little lift on his jumper. Marks' eight-point, six-rebound effort Saturday was one of the best games he's ever played.

-- The Peja Stojakovic-Carmelo Anthony matchup isn't going away. To say that Stojakovic has his hands full with Anthony is an understatement. But what's got to be most troubling for coach Byron Scott is Stojakovic isn't chipping in on offense. Stojakovic missed a month's worth of games late in the season because of a bad back, and he looks rusty, a step slow and out of sync.

-- The series is likely to get more physical, and that benefits Denver. Plain and simple, the Hornets have a depth problem, and they're vulnerable to one foul-plagued evening. Scott used only eight players on Saturday and it's clear he wants to squeeze as many minutes as possible out of his starters.