Hornets 89, Bobcats 73
David West scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half to carry the New Orleans Hornets to a 89-73 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.
Emeka Okafor finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Hornets, who had lost four of five coming into the game. Chris Paul had 14 assists to go along with nine points for New Orleans (13-5).
Charlotte (6-12) went over five minutes without scoring early in the fourth quarter and scored only 11 points in the final period.
Gerald Wallace, who left Charlotte's last game on Saturday with an elbow contusion, led the Bobcats with 18 points. His two free throws with 3:06 to play accounted for Charlotte's final points. The Hornets scored the final 10 points of the game.
Trevor Ariza scored 10 points, including a 3-pointer that gave the Hornets an 82-73 lead with 2:50 to play. Willie Green also scored 10 points for New Orleans.
The Bobcats played without leading scorer Stephen Jackson, who was serving a one-game suspension for verbally abusing an official in Saturday's loss to Milwaukee.
Boris Diaw and D.J. Augustin scored 13 points apiece for Charlotte.