Hornets flying high after record win

Minnesota tied a season high with 10 three-pointers, but New Orleans set a team record with its 55th victory.

By CHIP SCOGGINS, Star Tribune

Last update: April 10, 2008 - 8:09 AM

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NEW ORLEANS 122, WOLVES 90

Up next: at Orlando • 6 p.m. Friday • TV: Ch. 45 (106.1-FM)

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The New Orleans Hornets promised to spend Wednesday night toasting champagne at 30,000 feet. The Timberwolves had to settle for knowing their season moved one step closer to the finish line.

The Hornets earned the right to celebrate after setting a team record for victories while maintaining the top spot in the Western Conference with a 122-90 victory Wednesday before an announced crowd of 17,165 at Target Center.

The Wolves, who lost to the Hornets by 34 in the previous meeting, tied a season high with 10 three-pointers, but the Hornets were downright clinical on offense.

MVP candidate Chris Paul directed the show masterfully and finished with 19 points and 16 assists. Peja Stojakovic scored 24 points, including five three-pointers. Tyson Chandler had five dunks off alley-oops. And the Hornets scored 74 points in the second half.

"They're very confident," Wolves coach Randy Wittman said. "They're for real."

The surprising Hornets set a team record for victories and improved to 55-23 only three years after winning only 18 games.

"It gives you hope," Wittman said of his team's current predicament (19-59) after it lost for the eighth time in nine games.

Hornets coach Byron Scott allowed his players to celebrate last week after they clinched the team's first playoff berth since the 2003-04 season. Scott said the team would have another champagne toast on the flight home. Paul, however, said he doesn't want the Hornets to get carried away with this latest accomplishment.

"It's a great feeling, but at the same time, it seems like we've broken every record this season," he said. "We're not celebrating until we clinch the Western Conference."

Both teams were playing on the second night of back-to-backs Wednesday. The Hornets were held to a season low in points (and one point shy of tying the franchise record) in a 77-66 loss to Utah on Tuesday.

It looked like both the Hornets and the Wolves might reach that point total by halftime after a back-and-forth start. Wittman was not happy with his team's focus in the first quarter Tuesday, but the Wolves showed some life -- at least on offense -- in the first half.

Randy Foye seemed motivated by a head-to-head matchup with Paul, scoring 16 points in the first quarter, including 4-for-4 from three-point range.

As a team, the Wolves shot 72.2 percent from the field in the first quarter, but Wittman felt his players began settling for jump shots rather than attacking when the Hornets ran out and contested shots.

The Wolves offense eventually cooled, and the Hornets simply had too much firepower.

Stojakovic torched them from three-point range while Chandler and David West (22 points) had their way inside and outside. But everything started with Paul, who orchestrated the game and showed why he is getting serious MVP consideration.

"It's like there's just something inside of him." Wolves guard Kirk Snyder said. "I saw him go for a loose ball and basically push four men out of the way to get the ball. He's ferocious."

Notes

• Wittman said he did not feel the need to talk to guard Rashad McCants after benching him Tuesday against Charlotte. McCants committed two fouls in three minutes in the first quarter and was pulled for the rest of the game.

"They know," Wittman said when asked before the game if he needed to explain his decision to McCants. "I've been pretty consistent in that. When we play with a purpose and with our mind in it, we're competitive. I've said that all year long. The first eight minutes of that game we weren't."

McCants played 30 minutes, 9 seconds against the Hornets and finished with a team-high 23 points.

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