West leads Hornets over Kings

Chris Paul added 23 points and 12 assists for the Hornets, who snapped an 11- game skid in Sacramento and will visit the LA Clippers on Wednesday in their season finale. Devin Brown and Bobby Jackson added 20 points apiece.

Ron Artest tallied 22 points and pulled down seven rebounds for the Kings, who are now 20-20 at home this season and will finish their campaign against the LA Lakers on Wednesday. Mike Bibby and Francisco Garcia both netted 17 points and Shareef Abdur-Rahim finished with 15.

The Kings entered the final frame down by just a point and things remained close as the game headed toward the stretch. John Salmons canned a three and Justin Williams followed with a jumper to give Sacramento a 114-109 edge with 6:16 left.

But, the Hornets answered strongly over the next four-plus minutes. West hit a hook to fuel a 10-0 run that put the game away. Rasual Butler capped the spurt with a three to make it a 119-114 game with just 2:06 remaining.

The Kings never recovered from there as New Orleans/Oklahoma City held on for the win.

The game was tightly contested throughout. The teams were deadlocked at 31 after the opening 12 minutes and were even at 61 through intermission.

The Hornets eased ahead by a point, 94-93, after three quarters.

Game Notes

The Hornets are just 14-26 on the road this season...The Hornets won the season series 3-1 against the Kings this season... The last time the Hornets defeated the Kings in Sacramento was on January 12, 1997.