Chris Paul finished with 24 points and 10 assists as the Hornets beat the Clippers for a 10th straight time with a 112-84 rout at the Staples Center.
Paul left the game late in the second quarter with a sprained left ankle, but started the second half. With the decision in hand, he wasn't needed down the stretch.
"That was the hardest I've seen us play in awhile," said Hornets coach Byron Scott. "I knew it would happen sooner or later and tonight it did."
Devin Brown tallied 25 points and David West chipped in 17 points and nine rebounds for New Orleans, which dropped four of its previous five games. This was the Hornets' first win on the road in five tries this season.
"We did a good job of spreading the floor, but we were talking defense tonight," said Brown. "When we get stops we can run. It all starts with defense."
Coming off a 16-point loss against the Lakers Sunday night, the Hornets bolted to a 14-point halftime lead and built the advantage to 31 after three quarters.
Chris Kaman, Rasual Butler and Ricky Davis each had 14 points for the Clippers, who had a three-game winning streak broken.
"I thought we stopped doing the things we were good at earlier in the season," said Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy. "In the second half we tried individually to get back into the game. We didn't play as a group and Chris Paul picked us apart."
A layup from Baron Davis extended Los Angeles' lead to 10-7, but the Hornets responded with the next 12 points and didn't trail the rest of the way. New Orleans, which finished 10-of-27 from three-point range, got a pair of three- balls from Brown and Peja Stojakovic during the run.
It was 35-28 moving to the second quarter and Paul's three-ball moved the margin to 56-42 with 3:18 left in the half. Paul went down after hitting a layup inside two minutes left, but returned for the second half, coming up with an early steal, leading to a Brown three-point shot.
The lead stood at 94-63 moving to the fourth, when the Hornets were able to rest their starters.
Game Notes
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