CHARLOTTE
Darren Collison scored a career-high 24 points filling in for Chris Paul, David West added 21 points, and the New Orleans Hornets gave Emeka Okafor a victory in his return to Charotte, 104-99 over the listless Bobcats last night.
This was the first regular-season meeting since the July trade that sent Okafor to New Orleans for Tyson Chandler.
The Hornets rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to snap a three-game losing streak since Paul was sidelined with a knee injury.
Okafor, the Bobcats' first draft pick, had 16 points and seven rebounds as the Hornets shot 51 percent from the field.
Stephen Jackson scored 26 points and Nazr Mohammed added all of his 15 in the first half for Charlotte, which has lost three straight.
Paul, an All-Star from Winston-Salem who will miss the game, is out at least a month after knee surgery and Marcus Thornton (lower back pain) was out for a second straight game.
The former Charlotte Hornets' return to town figured to be a formidable task with the Bobcats entering the night 18-5 at home.
But in their first home game in two weeks after a 3-3 West Coast trip, the Bobcats were flat and faded in the second half as Collison took over.
Collison, a rookie from UCLA, was able to penetrate inside.
After Morris Peterson's consecutive 3-pointers, Collison hit two free throws and later scored on a driving layup to cap a 12-4 run and give New Orleans a 95-85 lead with 5:15 left.
The Bobcats cut a 12-point deficit to 102-99 on Jackson's three-point play with 30.5 seconds left.
But then Collison again blew by Raymond Felton for a left-handed layup with 10.1 seconds left.
With Gerald Wallace held to 14 points after missing a game with a hamstring injury, the Bobcats fell below .500 as they again played without Chandler.
Sidelined with a stress reaction in his left foot since Dec. 26, Chandler returned to practice Friday and Coach Larry Brown announced two hours before the game that he expected Chandler to play a few minutes.
But Chandler said an hour later that he still wasn't ready and wanted a couple more days of running first. So while he sat out his 22nd consecutive game, Okafor played in his 226th straight.
Okafor, who received light applause in pregame introductions, was outplayed early by Nazr Mohammed, who hit his first seven shots, then went 0 for 2 from the field and played sparingly after halftime.
NEW ORLEANS -- Stojakovic 7-12 1-1 18, West 7-14 7-9 21, Okafor 6-10 4-4 16, Collison 9-17 5-5 24, Peterson 3-7 0-2 8, Posey 4-9 0-0 11, Songaila 1-5 0-0 2, Hart 1-1 0-0 2, Wright 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 39-77 17-21 104.
CHARLOTTE -- Wallace 6-11 1-1 14, Diaw 2-9 6-6 10, Mohammed 7-9 1-2 15, Felton 2-9 4-4 8, Jackson 9-17 4-5 26, Augustin 5-6 2-2 13, Murray 4-10 0-5 8, Graham 2-6 0-0 5, Diop 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 37-77 18-27 99.
New Orleans 21 22 36 25 -- 104
Charlotte 26 27 21 25 -- 99
3-Point Goals--New Orleans 9-22 (Posey 3-6, Stojakovic 3-7, Peterson 2-5, Collison 1-4), Charlotte 7-18 (Jackson 4-5, Augustin 1-1, Graham 1-3, Wallace 1-4, Felton 0-1, Diaw 0-2, Murray 0-2). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--New Orleans 44 (Posey 8), Charlotte 47 (Diaw 8). Assists--New Orleans 20 (West, Collison, Peterson 4), Charlotte 29 (Felton 7). Total Fouls--New Orleans 21, Charlotte 14. A--19,164 (19,077).
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