MKRob Sports

Denver whopped New Orleans 121-63 on Monday night, the 58-point margin tying the NBA record, set in 1956, for the largest victory in playoff history.

“My mother,” the Nuggets’ Kenyon Martin said, “wasn’t born yet.”

Said Nuggets coach George Karl: “I don’t think I’ve ever had a team play defense like that. The energy, the bounce, was good, and defensively, when you play that well, the offense just happens.”

It happened, indeed.

The Nuggets got nearly any shot they wanted and finished at 56.6 percent from the field, including 10-of-20 from beyond the 3-point line.

Denver can close out the series in Game 5 on Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center for its first playoff series win since 1994, when the No. 8-seeded Nuggets upset the No. 1-seeded Seattle SuperSonics, coached by George Matthew Karl.

As for Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony, he glided through the paint for layups, calmly hit jumpers and played as if in perfect health, instead of nursing a bruised right elbow. Melo finished 9-for-17, scoring 26 points in his best game this series. His flashing of his famous smile was practically Pavlovian, popping up after each made jumper.

“He was making some tough shots,” Scott said. “He had a pep to his step, and that whole team did. They looked like they were a step or two quicker and faster than we were.”

As for Paul, the all-star guard? Four points in 36 minutes, the worst playoff showing of his career.

Of Game 3, Karl said his team played with a “regular season” intensity. The Nuggets showed Monday night their playoff intensity was back. For example, in the first quarter Martin brick-walled Paul, who fell hard. On the next possession, the two were barking so much that each player was tagged with a technical foul.

To be fair, the Hornets are banged up. Paul, center Tyson Chandler and forwards James Posey and Peja Stojakovic are playing with injuries that clearly have slowed them down. But even Scott wouldn’t make excuses for his club after the debacle.

“Every coach talks about playing a ‘playoff game’ on every possession — having value and intensity to every possession,” said Karl, who became an NBA head coach in 1984, “and probably in my career, I’ve never seen a team do that on every possession and play the game the right way, as much as we did tonight.”