NEW ORLEANS — Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets looked like the only ones having fun in this party town.
Anthony scored all of his 26 points in the first three quarters, and Denver thoroughly dismantled the New Orleans Hornets 121-63 on Monday night to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
The New Orleans Arena was mostly empty by the end of the third quarter, when Denver led 89-50 on its way to matching the most lopsided victory in NBA playoff history. The Minneapolis Lakers beat the St. Louis Hawks 133-75 in 1956.
"I wouldn't have thought that we would win by 58 points," Anthony said. "I never thought anyone could win by 58 points in the playoffs."
Looking twice as quick as New Orleans on both ends of the court, the Nuggets stifled Hornets All-Star Chris Paul, whose four points and six assists amounted to one of the worst games of his career.
The Nuggets can close out the series at home in Game 5 on Wednesday night. They will if they play as well as they did in Game 4, when they led by 20 early and by more than that most of the second half.
"Their defense was fantastic tonight," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "It's the worst we've played since I've been here. That's the worst basketball game I've ever seen us play and it just came at the wrong time."
It was the first time Paul, who did not play in the fourth quarter, had ever scored fewer than 14 points in a playoff game.
"Every time we tried something, they countered," Paul said. "We didn't play well and they executed their game plan to perfection."
Denver held New Orleans to only 31.5 percent shooting and forced the Hornets into a franchise playoff-high 27 turnovers, which led to 41 Nuggets points.
The Hornets also recorded playoff lows in points, field goals made (17), field goals attempted (54), assists (10) and second-half points (24). Denver's 121 points also set a Hornets opponent playoff high.
HAWKS 81, HEAT 71: At Miami, Zaza Pachulia had 12 points and 18 rebounds, and Atlanta raced out to a huge first-half lead and frustrated Dwyane Wade endlessly in tying its first-round Eastern Conference playoff series against Miami at two games apiece.
Mike Bibby scored 15 points, Joe Johnson added 14 and Josh Smith 13 for the Hawks.
Wade scored 22 points, doing so on 9-for-26 shooting and wincing at times from a back injury.
It was Atlanta's first road postseason win in nearly 12 years. Now the series returns to Atlanta on Wednesday for Game 5.
Largest playoff margin of victory
58 — Denver 121, at New Orleans 63, April 27, 2009
58 — Minneapolis 133, vs. St. Louis 75, March 19, 1956
56 — L.A. Lakers 126, at Golden State 70, April 21, 1973
50 — Milwaukee 136, vs. San Francisco 86, April 4, 1971