Chris Paul and David West were in near midseason form Tuesday night, combining for almost half of New Orleans’ points against Indiana.

And it still almost was not enough.

The Hornets, though, stayed undefeated during the preseason, holding off the Pacers 101-96 in front of an announced crowd of 12,684 at the New Orleans Arena.

Photo by Bill Haber / The Associated Press

Hornets point guard Chris Paul (3) gets mugged by Pacers forward Danny Granger (33) during Tuesday night's 101-96 win by New Orleans. Paul finished with 23 points and 15 assists.

The kicker – Hornets head coach Byron Scott wasn’t nearly as upset as you would think with the closeness of the penultimate game before the regular season kicks in next Wednesday at Golden State.

“It’s the first game we really have been tested in the preseason,” Scott said. “It was good to see the starters out there along with (James Posey) to see how they were going to react. It was something we haven’t really been able to get a good look at.

“As far as that’s concerned, I was happy to kind of see how we reacted to a game that was in doubt.”

If not for Paul and West, the only doubt would have been by how many points New Orleans (6-0) lost to Indiana (3-4). The Hornets beat Indiana 105-71 on Oct. 8.

Paul finished with 23 points, 15 assists and three steals while West added 26 points on 12-of-17 shooting.

“They played fantastic,” Scott said. “Two All-Stars played like All-Stars tonight and looked like they were in midseason form already. We just have to get a couple of guys to get back to their midseason form as well.”

Said West, “We’re not playing the minutes we play during the year, but we’re out there giving effort. We need to make sure as the preseason winds down, we’re closer to near where we need to be by the start of the season.”

Down 94-90 with 3:30 to play in the game, New Orleans turned to its core group to get done whatever it need to.

First, West hit the front end of a one-and-one. On the Hornets’ next offensive possession, Peja Stojakovic drained a 3-pointer, tying the game at 94.

Pacers forward Danny Granger committed an offensive foul on the next Indiana possession, then New Orleans’ Tyson Chandler hit the front end of a one-and-one for a 95-94 lead.

Indiana took a 95-94 lead on a Rasho Nesterovic layup, but Paul hooked up with Chandler for an alley oop to take back a one-point lead.

After an Indiana turnover, Chandler connected on a hook shot after receiving a deft pass by West. On the other end of the floor, West blocked Granger, preserving a 99-96 lead with 47 seconds left.

Paul then hit two free throws – he went 10-for-10 on the night – and put the game out of reach.

“I thought we came out and played hard, but they were making shots,” New Orleans guard Morris Peterson said. “We’ve got to realize we’re going to get teams’ best game night, night out and I think that was the case.

“Coach did get on us at halftime and told us we needed to step up.”

New Orleans allowed the Pacers to shoot 47.9 percent from the floor and never put the game away despite taking three-possession leads several times throughout the game.

Though the Hornets did force 21 turnovers, getting 34 points off of them, Scott wasn’t pleased with the defensive effort.

“I thought the beginning of the game and into the third quarter, we allowed them to run their offense,” Scott said. “We weren’t very aggressive defensively until the game got a little tighter, then we decided to lock them down.”

The concern for Scott could be with his second unit, which added 23 points, but kept the Pacers in the game.

“The defense still has to be better,” Scott said. “The one thing about our second unit is that I thin most of them think their playing time is predicated on how they play offensively. It’s not. It has nothing to do with their offense.”

Stojakovic had 12 points and Peterson added 10 for the Hornets, while Granger led Indiana with 20 points. Troy Murphy pitched in 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers.

New Orleans finishes its preseason run Thursday in Mobile against Miami at the Mitchell Center on the campus of South Alabama.

Bradley Handwerger can be reached at bhandwerger@wwltv.com or 504-529-6439.