NEW ORLEANS ― For the third time in fewer than five days, New Orleans played a division-leading opponent.

And for the first time in that stretch, the Hornets were more than practice material.

Alex Brandon / The Associated Press

Chris Paul, 3, pumps his fist as the Hornets picked up an 88-79 win over Southwest Division rival Houston.

New Orleans led from the get-go and never trailed as it held off Southwest Division-leading Houston 88-79 in front of a sold out Arena.

The win stopped a two-game skid of blowout losses - a 13-point defeat by Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles on Tuesday and Thursday’s 20-point defeat at Southeast Division-leading Orlando.

“I’m happy with how we came back tonight,” Hornets Head Coach Byron Scott said. “I think we showed a lot of pride tonight coming back after the way we played yesterday. We know we’ve got it in us. It’s just a matter of doing it every single day.”

The key change from Thursday’s loss to Friday’s win was energy. Against the Magic, the Hornets (17-9) didn’t have it. Against the Rockets (19-11), they certainly did.

“It still boggles my mind that we could come out like we did yesterday and turn right back around and play another very good basketball team and come out with that type of energy,” Scott said. “Obviously, they’re very embarrassed with how they played in Orlando.”

Beating Houston didn’t come easily. It took a big-time performance on defense to get the job done. Houston made only two field goals in the final 12 minutes and no shots from the floor in the final eight minutes.

New Orleans couldn’t push its lead into double digits all night and led by more than seven points only once before the final buzzer sounded.

Leading by three with fewer than three minutes to play, Tyson Chandler took over big-play duty from Chris Paul.

First, Chandler sat in the lane and watched as Paul drove to the basket. But the point guard’s shot didn’t fall and, despite standing in a crowd of Rockets, Chandler tipped the ball back in.

He gave an emphatic fist pump and handed the team a 79-74 lead with 2:32 to play.

“That was the Tyson Chandler I know,” said Paul, who finished with 26 points and 10 assists. “That’s what he did all last year. Tyson has been injured and trying to find himself. When he plays like that, he’s unstoppable.”

Alex Brandon / The Associated Press

Chris Paul passes the ball in a crowd of Rockets in New Orleans' Friday night 88-79 win over Houston.

Chandler wasn’t finished.

Houston’s Tracy McGrady made it a three-point game with two free throws before David West sank an 18-foot jumper for an 81-76 lead with 1:46 to play.

Paul followed that with a 20-footer, but West then fouled McGrady, who finished with 11 points on 2-of-11 shooting, on a 3-point shot. Houston’s guard nailed all three free throws and again the Rockets were in fighting position.

But on the next possession, Chandler stepped up one more time. Seeing Paul alone on the outside, he batted out a rebound to his point guard, keeping possession with the Hornets and all but putting the game out of reach with 23 seconds to play and new Orleans up 83-79.

That wasn’t all Chandler did. He kept Houston’s tower of a center Yao Ming silent in the final quarter.

“I knew I needed to be aggressive,” said Chandler, who finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds. “I needed to get Yao involved. Let him rest on one end and he’s a tough matchup offensively.”

Said Scott, “He took the challenge. … I thought in the last three or four minutes in the game, we knew they were going to go to him. We said, ‘Look, we’re going to stay home on all the shooters. TC, do your work early.’ ”

Ming finished with 19 points and 12 boards, but had only one point and three rebounds in the final 12 minutes.

David West added 23 points for New Orleans, which also got 13 from Rasual Butler.

Still, despite the win, Scott said his team has a long way to go. All he has to do is look at video from his team’s previous two games – a 100-97 loss to the Lakers and an 88-68 loss to Orlando – to see just how far his team needs to go.

“Right now, we’re not one of the elite teams in this league,” Scott said. “We’ve got a ways to go. You look at the elite teams, they bring it every night and that’s what we’ve got to get to.”

Added West, “The top teams in the NBA are able to go out and execute and able to really do what they want. They don’t really adjust to who their playing. They do what they do and make other teams deal with them.

“We’re not there. We’re not even close.”

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