NEW ORLEANS ― With a bit more than six minutes to play in the Arena Friday night, the Hornets were tied with Denver.

A little more than three and a half minutes later, New Orleans was down by 10 to the Nuggets.

By the time the game ended, New Orleans had lost its eighth out of 10 game, falling this time 102-95.

And now the Hornets (32-34) face the season’s longest road swing in the midst of a six-game road losing streak.

“Our players understand what we’re trying to do and that’s win every night,” Hornets Head Coach/General Manager Jeff Bower said. “It’s a long difficult trip with good opponents. But we’ll only play them one game at a time.”

It begins with a game at Phoenix – the Western Conference’s No. 6 seed right now – and end in Dallas, currently the No. 2 seed. In between the Hornets play the Clippers, Golden State and the Nuggets once more.

“Our mindset has got to be very similar to how we went into tonight’s game with a quality opponent,” Bower said. “We will prepare with a set of objective to go into the game and play very hard and compete.”

Friday against Denver (44-21), the Hornets did just that despite playing short-handed – New Orleans dressed only eight players as Chris Paul (knee), Sean Marks (shoulder), Peja Stojakovic (abdomen) and James Posey (flu) all sat out.

David West and Marcus Thornton picked up the slack, recording 30 points and 23, respectively.

New Orleans forced 19 Denver turnovers, turning them into 29 points. And after allowing the Nuggets to shoot 14 of 22 in the first quarter, New Orleans allowed Denver to go 23 of 57 the rest of the game.

But the Nuggets showed just why they are fighting for a top two seed in the West in the final six minutes. Though the Hornets led after both the second and third quarters, Denver outscored the Hornets 16-7 down the stretch.

“I thought we fought,” West said. “But they just made the plays down the stretch in terms of having those elite guys who have been in situations like that. They just know how to close the show.”

Chauncey Billups had 21 points and Carmelo Anthony 32, including 12 in the fourth quarter of which six were in the final six minutes.

Anthony hit a fast-break layup following a Thornton turnover to get the Denver run going. Then Billups followed up a Darius Songaila brick with two free throws for a 90-86 lead.

Darren Collison’s layup with 4:38 to go pulled New Orleans to within 90-88, but that’s as close as the Hornets would get the rest of the game.

Anthony hit a jumper with two hands in face. Following an Emeka Okafor miss, Anthony banked in a put-back layup.

Another New Orleans turnover was followed by two more Billups free throws. Then a Thornton missed 3-pointer was followed by a Nene dunk and suddenly, Denver led 98-88 with 2:44 left in the game.

New Orleans was never able to mount any comeback from that point.

THIRD QUARTER
Hornets 75-73: Marcus Thornton had 20 points and David West had 24 as the Hornets continue to cling to a lead in the New Orleans Arena over the Western Conference's third-seed. Denver, if you remember, scored a 58-point win over the Hornets in the last season's playoffs.

Thornton continues to outscore Denver's bench, which has 12 points. Still, the Nuggets are outrebounding the Hornets 36-27. But the difference - New Orleans has turned up the defense, holding Denver to 15 of 43 in the second and third quarter, while forcing 14 Nuggets' turnovers.

Carmelo Anthony has 20 points for the Nuggets.

SECOND QUARTER
Hornets 52-51: Marcus Thornton shot 6 of 10 in the first half, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range to pace the Hornets. His 16 points off the bench helped offset the 12 from Denver's bench, thought the Nuggets used six players from their reserves.New Orleans has only three guys dressed on the bench tonight.

Darren Collison had 11 points and five assists whiel David West had 10 points and three rebounds to help the Hornets keep the lead for much of the second quarter.

Carmelo Anthony continued his torrid pace this season, recording 12 first-half points on 5 of 12 shooting while Nene had 11 points on 4 of 4 shooting.

The Nuggest outrebounded the Hornets 25-18 and shot 51.2 percent to New Orleans' 43.8 percent.

FIRST QUARTER
Hornets 29-29: Marcus Thornton's 3-pointer from in front of the Hornets' bench tied the game at 29-29 with 9 seconds left in the first quarter. Emeka Okafor and Darren Collison both had 7 points while Julian Wright and David West both had 6 points.

The Hornets never trailed by more than five points in the opening quarter and closed on a 8-4 run to keep the game close heading into the second quarter.

New Orleans had problems on the inside, though, as the Nuggets outrebounded the Hornets 12-7 while shooting 63.6 percent from the floor.

PREGAME

32-33 Hornets starters: Darren Collison, Emeka Okafor, Morris Peterson, David West, Julian Wright

43-21 Nuggest starters: Arron Afflalo, Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Nene, Johan Petro

Notes:

• James Posey will miss tonight's game with flu-like symptoms. That means the Hornets will have an eight-man rotation.
• Head Coach/General Manager Jeff Bower said Chris Paul is expected to return as soon as 7-10 days after finally being cleared to run.
• In the last two games, David West is averaging 30.5 points on 65.8 percent shooting. He's also averaging 9.5 assists.
• The Hornets are playing their final home game before embarking on a five-game road trip. New Orleans has lost six straight road games dating back to  100-93 loss at Orlandon on Feb. 8.
• Aaron Gray had a season-high seven rebounds in Wednesday's loss at Oklahoma City.

Quoting Jeff Bower

"As long as the medical team is in agreement, that would be great. If it’s five games, one game, 15 games - as long as he’s cleared for participation and is ready to play, that’s a great thing,"

--Bower, answering a question about whether he would allow Chris Paul to play if the Hornets are out of the playoff picture.

"It could take a week to 10 days. It’ll all depend on his reaction following each workout as to how hard and how fast the progression can take place,"

-- Bower, on how long quickly Chris Paul can return now that he has been cleared to run.