NEW ORLEANS – Twenty-four minutes into Friday night’s NBA game between the Hornets and Toronto, Chris Paul had secured a double-double.
Twenty-four minutes later, that didn’t mean a thing.
New Orleans allowed Toronto to hit eight third-quarter 3-pointers, turning a two-point halftime into an 18-point deficit and because of that, the Hornets lost 107-90 to the Raptors.
“They were getting 3’s,” Hornets Head Coach Byron Scott. “For the most part, out of the eight they made, we might have contested two of them. What I saw, especially in the third quarter and the second half, was a lack of energy.”
Paul finished the game with 21 points and 18 assists after finishing the opening half with 17 and 10.
For the first time since the 2005-06 Katrina season, the Hornets are 2-4.
After holding the Raptors (3-2) to just 3 of 11 from beyond the arc in the opening half, the Hornets had no answer in the third. Toronto’s Hedo Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani both hit three treys while Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon added one apiece. The eight third-quarter 3-pointers was a club record for treys in a quarter by the Raptors.
Toronto finished the game 14 of 29 from beyond the arc and outrebounded the Hornets 39-34. New Orleans also committed 14 turnovers, of which the Raptors scored 27 of their points.
“We just made shots,” Toronto’s Calderon said. “Some days you make them and other days, the ball just doesn’t want to go in.”
The key to the run was Bosh, whose play on the inside opened the game up from the outside. While the Hornets were paying attention to him, the other four Raptors were clear to shoot from deep.
Bosh finished with a game-high 27 pints and added seven rebounds.
“They did a good job,” Hornets forward David West said. “They just got rolling. Bosh got rolling and we just didn’t do a good job in terms of guarding him as a team.”
The Hornets extended their 51-49 halftime lead to 56-51 a minute and a half into the third quarter on an Emeka Okafor dunk. But then the parade of 3’s started for Toronto.
First Calderon hit his Then Bosh. Then Turkoglu’s first of the quarter. Suddenly, a five-point lead was a four-point deficit.
The shocking exchange wasn’t finished.
Calderon’s jumper pushed New Orleans’ deficit to six and Bosh’s hook shot made added to it.
By the time Julian Wright laid the ball in, the Hornets were down 64-58 with 6:41 to go in the quarter. New Orleans had gone scoreless for nearly four minutes.
The quarter ended with Toronto outscoring the Hornets 34-14 and taking complete control of the game.
“What I thought during the third quarter, especially the third quarter and in the whole second half, there was a lack of energy,” Scott said.
He added, “For the life of me, I can’t understand how we came out with that type of energy.”
Bobby Brown had 16 while West finished with 14 points for the Hornets. Turkoglu and Calderon each had 16 for Toronto, which also go 14 from Bargnani.
And now the Hornets go on a three-game West coast road swing against the defending NBA champion Lakers, the Clippers and annual playoff contender Phoenix.
“It doesn’t get any easier from here dealing with teams that are athletic,” West said.
