For the first time since May, New Orleans tasted defeat on the basketball floor.

The Hornets couldn’t find a way to stop Atlanta’s shooting behind the 3-point arc, nor could they halt Joe Johnson, Josh Smith or Marvin Williams in front of 16,030 fans at New Orleans Arena.

In the end, that led to an 87-79 loss by New Orleans, the team’s first loss of the 2008-09 season. The Hornets went 7-0 in preseason and were 3-0 heading into Wednesday’s game.

Photo by Ann Heisenfelt / The Associated Press

Atlanta's Ronald Murray guards Hornets points guard Chris Paul (3) during New Orleans' 87-79 Wednesday night loss at the New Orleans Arena.

Though defense is something head coach Byron Scott said will separate the Hornets this year, it helped cause the team’s downfall against the Hawks.

“They didn’t listen to a lot of what we were saying this morning during shoot around and what we talked about before the game in how athletic this team was,” Scott said. “We thought two key ingredients in winning this game would be transition defense and defensive rebounding.

“They got 13 offensive rebounds, so obviously we didn’t do a very good job there.”

He added, "We got exactly what we deserved. We got our butt kicked because we didn’t’ come ready to play tonight."

Atlanta was 12-of-30 from 3-point range and had five more offensive rebounds than did New Orleans in improving to 3-0 for the first time since the 1997-98 season.

Johnson scorched New Orleans for 24 points, Ronald Murray had 14, Smith and Williams had 11 each and Al Horford pitched in 10.

The Hornets finished minus-10 in rebounds and fell to 3-1, losing for the first time since dropping Game 7 to San Antonio in the second round of the playoffs this past season.

“We just came out flat, no energy,” Hornets forward David West said. “We were just a step behind them the whole game. They just played with a little more pep than we did.”

Despite Chris Paul’s 22-point, 11-assist night – his fourth double-double in a row – New Orleans couldn’t get going on the offensive end, especially in the fourth quarter.

“They just beat us,” Paul said. “We thought we could turn it on whenever we got ready. They were just the better team than us.”

Thus far into the season, turning it on in the second half has worked for the Hornets. But Scott called that habit a false sense of security.

He proved prophetic against the Hawks.

“I just thought tonight that we were the aggressor from a defensive standpoint,” Atlanta head coach Mike Woodson said. “We stayed within our game plan even when they made runs. We were able to counter their runs.”

New Orleans used a 22-8 run in the third quarter to take its first lead since a 2-0 advantage to begin the game. It appeared the momentum was the Hornets to lose.

After a Hilton Armstrong free throw pushed the lead to 63-58, Maurice Evans hit a 3-pointer for Atlanta. An offensive foul on Armstrong gave the Hawks the ball back and Smith hit a jumper.

Rasual Butler missed a trey on the other end, Atlanta picked up two offensive boards before Smith hit another field goal with 10 minutes to play and the Hornets were never in the game again.

Atlanta held the Hornets to 17 fourth-quarter points while scoring 29 of its own.

“We just took a little too long to start picking it up,” said New Orleans’ Tyson Chandler, who finished with 9 points and seven rebounds. “It was a little too late. They were playing a lot more physical than us and it caught up to us.

“You can’t just try to turn it on. We played in spurts and they played hard throughout the entire game.”

The Hornets allowed Atlanta to shoot 57.9 percent in the fourth quarter while making only 5-of-18 shots themselves.

“It goes back to communication on the defensive end, which I thought was very little,” Scott said. “When you’re playing against a team that has real good movement like they do and the players that they do, you’ve got to be very in tune with what you’re doing on the defensive end and I didn’t think we were.”

Now New Orleans must go on the road for a game at Charlotte on Friday before hosting Miami on Saturday.

It’ll be an important two-game set for the Hornets, who must now prove they’ve learned from Wednesday’s experience.

“We’re all upset,” New Orleans guard Morris Peterson said. “We know how hard it is to get wins in this league and we don’t take anything for granted. We just have to be ready to play again Friday."

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