Hornets 96, Nuggets 87
Chris Paul scored 20 points and David West added 19 and eight rebounds as the New Orleans Hornets defeated the host Denver Nuggets, 96-87, on Sunday.
Trevor Ariza added 12 points and seven rebounds for New Orleans (22-16).
Al Harrington scored 20 points for Denver (20-16), which lost its third straight game.
Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony recorded just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting as speculation increases that the impending free agent will soon be dealt to the New Jersey Nets.
Willie Green had 11 points, Jarrett Jack scored 10 points and Emeka Okafor had nine points and 13 rebounds for New Orleans.
Denver’s Chauncey Billups joined Anthony in having a poor shooting game, going 2-for-12 from the field. Billups hit all nine free-throw attempts to end up with 13 points.
Nene scored 12 points for the Nuggets.
New Orleans outrebounded Denver 45-33 and held the Nuggets to 40.5 percent shooting.