FINAL
New Orleans held off Phoenix 110-103.
END 3RD QUARTER
On Nov. 11, Phoenix scored 75 points in the first half.
Eight days later, the Suns scored only 76 points in the opening three quarters.
Thursday night in the Arena, the Hornets began to look like a basketball team.
And the Suns bore the brunt of the change. New Orleans led 78-76.
The keys to the first 36 minutes: New Orleans outrebounded Phoenix 49-30 and was 9 of 18 from beyond the arc.
Peja Stojakovic had 19 points while Devin Brown and Marcus Thornton each had 17 for the Hornets.
HALFTIME
Phoenix made the opening basket of the game.
And then the Hornets ran, to the tune of 15-0. But after that 15-2 start, New Orleans went cold and the Suns got hot.
After shooting only 18 percent in the opening six minuts, Phoenix improved its shooting percentage to 45.5 percent by halftime.
But the key to Thursday night's contest is rebounding, where the Hornets are up 34-21, including15-9 on the offensive glass.
Marcus Thornton and Peja Stojakovic both have 13 points for New Orleans, which also got 11 from Emeka Okafor, who also had 8 rebounds.
STARTERS
Hornets projected starters (4-8)
G Devin Brown, G Darren Collison, F/C Emeka Okafor, F Peja Stojakovic, F David West
Inactive: Ike Diogu, Chris Paul, Hilton Armstrong
Suns projected starters (10-2)
C Channing Frye, F Grant Hill, G Steve Nash, G Jason Richardson, F Amar'e Stoudemire
QUOTABLE PREGAME....QUOTES
"We're trying to buy into what they're teaching, what they're preaching,"
- Forward David West, talking about getting shots from different position
"We've just got to make adjustments. You're not going to play defense the same way against Phoenix as you are Kobe (Bryant),"
- West, hinting that the team now changes gameplans for teams instead of just tweaking what it does every game.
"They're both so talented at different ends of the spectrum. You have to be concerned that if you try one thing, you open up the floodgates for the other. ... We're not going to try to take one of them out at the expense of the other,"
- GM-Head Coach Jeff Bower, on Phoenix forward Amar'e Stoudemire and point guard Steve Nash.
Notable notes of noteworthiness
- Hornets forward David West has a double-double in New Orleans' past three games, all with Jeff Bower as the head coach;
- New Orleans has lost two straight to Phoenix since winning six in a row against the Suns;
- PG Darren Collison has started the past two games for the Hornets. He's averaging 7.6 points and 2.4 assists per game;
- New Orleans is looking for back-to-back wins for the first time this season;
- In the previous meeting this season - a 124-104 Phoenix win on Nov. 11 - Chris Paul put in 25 points. Paul is sitting with a sprained ankle;
- New Orleans canned Head Coach Byron Scott following the first meeting between the two teams.
