NBA Game Summary - New Orleans/Oklahoma City at Phoenix

Phoenix, AZ (Basketball News) - J.R. Smith led a balanced attack with 26 points and 10 rebounds, as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets stunned the Phoenix Suns, 91-87, at America West Arena.

Desmond Mason chipped in with 22 for the Hornets, who broke a five-game losing streak and a four-game skid on the road. Rookie phenom Chris Paul added 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while David West also reached double figures with 10 points.

"We did a good job," said Hornets coach Byron Scott. "I thought our effort was great. We came out and we competed from start to finish. We had a couple of lapses at the end of the game, but it’s a pretty big win for our team."

Raja Bell had 24 points to lead the Suns, who had an eight-game homecourt winning streak snapped. Steve Nash, the reigning MVP, struggled from the field, shooting just 5-of-13, but did have 16 assists to go with his 14 points.

Shawn Marion had 12 points and 10 boards while Kurt Thomas chipped in with 12 and eight rebounds.

"We say that we are tired and that is just an excuse we use and we shouldn’t because it’s not fair to the fans or the rest of the team," said Suns coach Mike D’Antoni. "We have to do some soul searching and set the tone on our own."

The Hornets were on fire early using a 21-9 run, paced by Mason, Smith and Paul to race out to a 23-11 lead. The Suns were climbing uphill the rest of the night.

The Hornets led 31-23 after the first quarter and kept that margin heading into the half with a 54-46 lead. Smith paced the Hornets with 17 at intermission on 5-of-6 shooting while Mason added 16 on 7-of-9 shooting. The Suns were led by Bell with 16.

The Hornets continued to hold the Suns at arm’s length throughout the third and actually extended the lead to 11 at 73-62.

The Suns would not go lightly however.

Three bombs in a row from beyond the arc by Nash, Bell and Eddie House cut a seemingly insurmountable 12-point lead to just three with 1:03 remaining.

A Suns stop gave them an opportunity to tie with a fourth consecutive trey, but Nash’s attempt fell off the rim and House couldn’t save the rebound from going out of bounds with 25.1 seconds left.

The Suns pressured the inbounds pass, but were forced to foul Smith who calmly stuck two free throws to stretch the lead back to five with 17.2 remaining.

Another House three with 14.1 seconds left trimmed the lead to two, but Phoenix was again forced to foul Smith.

The second-year player out of St. Benedict’s High in New Jersey showed the mettle of a veteran and again hit his free throws to seal the game.

"In Sacramento, we didn’t really capitalize in the clutch. It came down to the last four minutes and we pretty much folded, " Smith said of his team’s recent inability to close out victories. "We knew we couldn’t do that tonight and we came out and hit our clutch free throws. We snapped a five-game losing streak so we could go home happy."