Paul, Hornets beat Warriors to stay undefeated

"They got great play from Chris Paul," said the Warriors’ Baron Davis. "We couldn’t keep him out of the lane."

Peja Stojakovic scored 18 points and David West added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Hornets, who were celebrating their second "home opener" of the season.

Tuesday’s game was the Hornets first game in Oklahoma City, where they will play all but six of their home games. The result also gave the Hornets their first 4-0 start in franchise history.

Davis scored 22 points, while Monta Ellis added 17 off the bench for the Warriors, who will host the Hornets on Thursday in the back end of a home-and- home set between the clubs.

Trailing by 10 to start the fourth, the Warriors opened the quarter with a 12-3 run to quickly cut their deficit down to one.

Ellis and Matt Barnes opened the period with back-to-back baskets before Rasual Butler answered with a trey for the Hornets.

However, Golden State came right back with eight straight points, pulling to within 77-76 on Mike Dunleavy’s one-handed put-back.

Anthony Roberson then came through with two huge three-pointers for the Warriors: one to tie the game at 81-81 and two minutes later, another to put Golden State up 86-85.

Davis’ dunk extended the Warriors’ lead to 90-87 with 3:31 left in the fourth, but Stojakovic answered for the Hornets with five straight points

Stojakovic first dropped in two from the charity stripe to bring the Hornets back within a point and New Orleans/Oklahoma City came up big at the defensive end, stopping multiple put backs from Dunleavy and Andris Biedrins.

Stojakovic then came right back at the other end, converting a three-point- play after being fouled to up the Hornets lead with 92-90 with 1:58 left to play.

Golden State had a chance to either tie the game or take the lead with just 13 seconds remaining, but Desmond Mason intercepted Ellis’ inbound pass.

Paul, though, converted just 1-of-2 free throws, giving the Warriors one last chance to even the score.

However, Roberson’s three-point attempt failed to get rim and West and Stojakovic converted free-throws the rest of the way to ice the game.

"It’s cool (to start 4-0)," said West. "But we can’t get too excited. It’s a marathon and we just have to keep picking up wins. The Western Conference is a tough conference and we just need to keep our focus and continue to scrap and draw."

The Hornets held a 29-17 after the first quarter, but the Warriors managed to pull within nine, 52-43, at the break.

Jason Richardson’s jumper brought the Warriors with 66-64 with 2:20 left in the third, but the Hornets closed the quarter out with an 8-0 run and took a 74-64 lead into the final period.

Game Notes

Mason finished with 12 points and nine rebounds for the Hornets, while Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 14 boards...Biedrins finished with 10 points, six blocks and five rebounds for the Warriors...The Hornets outrebounded Golden State 52-34.