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-- Randy Renner, for NBA.com

OKLAHOMA CITY (NBA.com exclusive) -- The New Orleans Hornets used to feel right at home in Oklahoma City. The team played in the Ford Center for two seasons after Hurricane Katrina devasted the Crescent City.

The Hornets were comfortable in their home away from home where a friendly city had tossed them a life raft.

Wednesday night, though, there was no comfort for the Hornets inside a sold-out Ford Center where Oklahoma City's rolling Thunder routed the former favorites from Bayou country 98-83 and it wasn't nearly that close for most of the game.

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-- Jim Eichenhofer, Hornets.com

New Orleans has played an inordinate number of close games this season, one reason why some began calling this club the “Heart Attack Hornets” several weeks ago. With that said, tonight’s defeat was a distinct one in that it didn’t have much resemblance to many of the club’s previous games throughout the 2009-10 regular season.
The Hornets (32-33) needed a late spurt to avoid dropping just their second game all season by more than 20 points, falling to the playoff-bound and up-and-coming Thunder (39-24). David West turned in a monster 33-point performance in the building where his NBA career first blossomed, but it wasn’t nearly enough, as the rest of the rotation struggled.

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-- John Reid, New Orleans Times-Picayune

OKLAHOMA CITY – Despite an urgency to avoid setbacks, New Orleans Hornets forward David West has not been able to enjoy a road victory in more than a month.


The Associated PressDavid West had a big night in Oklahoma City, but it wasn't enough to help the New Orleans Hornets get a win.He will have try to again this Sunday at Phoenix because his 33-point performance on Wednesday night was not enough to prevent the Hornets from suffering a 98-83 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in front of 18,203 at the Ford Center.

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-- Jimmy Smith, The Times-Picayune

Realistically, the return of New Orleans Hornets All-Star guard Chris Paul is two weeks away at a minimum.

As the Hornets prepare to play their 19th consecutive game without him - and the 27th overall this season - Paul remains sidelined as a result of Feb. 4 arthroscopic surgery to remove the torn portion of the meniscus cartilage in his left knee, a convalescence originally termed to last four to six weeks.

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-- John Reid, The Times Picayune

New Orleans Hornets starting small forward Peja Stojakovic will be sidelined for a minimum two weeks with a lower abdominal strain, the team announced Wednesday morning.

Stojakovic suffered the injury in the third quarter of Monday's 135-131 victory against the Golden State Warriors. The Hornets play at Oklahoma City tonight and Julian Wright will start in place of Stojakovic, team spokesman Dennis Rogers said.

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-- Ed Daniels, NewOrleans.com

As I watched Hornets guard Marcus Thornton carve up the Golden State Warriors Monday night, I could only come to only conclusion.

This off season, the Hornets need to get Marcus Thornton signed to an extension.

NBA second round picks become free agents when their contracts expire. Unlike first round picks, there are no team options and qualifying offers that clubs can exercise.

Thornton will earn $457,888 this season. Next season, $762,195.

Relative chump change for a guy who is going off like a bottle rocket on 4th of July.

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-- John DeShazier, New Orleans Times-Picayune

Turns out all the Hornets needed in order to snap their four-game losing streak was the league's most undermanned, compliant opponent.

That, and three scorers with at least 22 points.

And a league-high tying 20 assists from Darren Collison

And three players with double-doubles.

And a missed game-tying, 3-point attempt with less than 10 seconds remaining.

In other words, nothing was easy about New Orleans' 135-131 victory over Golden State on Monday night at the New Orleans Arena. Certainly, it wasn't nearly as easy as it could have been and maybe should have been, given that the Warriors apparently adhere to an unwritten rule that forbids playing defense.

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-- John reid, New Orleans Times-Picayune

With their playoff hopes fading after each loss, New Orleans Hornets rookie shooting guard Marcus Thornton gave the appropriate response to end their slide.

Thornton's 28 points carried the Hornets to a 135-131 victory against the Golden State Warriors on Monday night at the New Orleans Arena.

The Hornets (32-32) were on the verge of losing five consecutive games for the first time since the 2006-07 season when the team was temporarily based in Oklahoma City.

With only 19 games remaining entering Monday night, the Hornets had lost five of their previous six and had slipped five games behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth and final playoff spot.

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-- Jimmy Smith, The Times-Picayune

“Both those guys (Thornton and Collison) are quite a surprise for them to be getting the numbers as rookies they’re getting, ” said Golden State Coach Don Nelson.

“It’s really amazing. I don’t think anybody saw that coming. That’s incredible. I’m happy for them; they’re two really good players that they found. We think we got a good one, but Collison had a better month than our kid, and he was terrific.”

Which provided a treat for those in attendance Monday night.

“Strong, strong, backcourt play, ” Hornets Coach Jeff Bower said. “It’s a little bit of an indication of the strength of the backcourt in this past draft when you look at all of the players that were taken in the draft from the backcourt. You’ve really got a wide influx of talent and abilities playing major roles in a lot of cases.”

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-- John Reid, The Times Picayune

“I told D.C. (Darren Collison) we couldn’t lose this game, and I tried to take it upon myself to get us back, ’’ Thornton said. “We needed this game bad. I couldn’t remember the last time we actually had won a game, so we needed this one.’’

Thornton came to the rescue to deliver his team’s first victory since Feb. 26 against Orlando. Though questionable to play after Friday night’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs when he suffered a bruised upper back when he flipped over guard Tony Parker, Thornton was cleared after participating in Monday morning’s shootaround.

After trailing 116-112, Thornton scored 10 points in the final 5:31. Despite coming off the bench, Thornton made 11 of 19 shots in 29 minutes.

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