Hornets rock L.A.

• By LES EAST
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Mar 15, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:52 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — About an hour before tip-off of the Hornets game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, New Orleans coach Byron Scott said he expected the game “to have everything a playoff game has.”

He was right, as the battle of two Western Conference heavyweights attracted a season-high crowd of 18,199 to the New Orleans Arena, both teams played with playoff intensity, and two of the elite players in the NBA went toe to toe.

In the end it was point guard Chris Paul and the Hornets who prevailed over Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, 109-98.

Paul had 27 points, 17 assists, four steals, and four rebounds, and the sixth sellout crowd in the last 10 games chanted “M-V-P” during the final few minutes. Bryant, who often hears the same chant at home games, finished with a game-high 36 points, nine rebounds, and three assists.

New Orleans (44-20) moved a half-game past San Antonio, which lost at Detroit, into second place in the Southwest Division, remaining a half-game behind first-place Houston, which won its 21st consecutive game by defeating Charlotte.

The Hornets also moved within a half-game of Los Angeles (45-20), which fell into a tie with the Rockets for the best record in the Western Conference. The Lakers will try to end the Rockets’ winning streak Sunday in Houston.

New Orleans, which beat San Antonio by 25 points Wednesday, will continue its three-game stretch against elite teams when it visits Central Division-leading Detroit on Sunday.

“This was a playoff-type atmosphere,” Hornets center Tyson Chandler said. “Once we get used to this type of basketball it’s just going to flow right into the playoffs. Playing these types of games now is going to prepare us for what it’s going to be like in the playoffs.”

It was a bad game for ankles as the Lakers lost starting center Pau Gasol, their second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder, less than three minutes into the game because of a sprained left ankle.

“The game changed big time because of the fact that now we don’t have to think about him on the post and double-team him,” Scott said of Gasol’s absence. “We changed our thought process as far as to what we were going to do on the defensive end against the post-up.”

Forward David West, the Hornets’ second-leading scorer and rebounder, who had returned Wednesday from a three-game absence because of a sprained left ankle, injured his right ankle in the fourth quarter and did not return. He was getting treatment after the game and more should be known about his injury today.

Paul injured his left ankle late in the fourth and continued to play, but with a noticeable limp. Afterward he said the ankle felt fine, but he’d know more when he sees how it feels today.

“We’ve looked at this as a great opportunity to get some big wins,” Paul said of the Spurs-Lakers-Pistons gauntlet. “We’re trying to get back atop the Western Conference. We’ve won two games, but we’ve got more work to do.”