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Stojakovic, Hornets use the long ball to down Hawks

Mar 6, 2008 - 4:54 AM NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- Even without David West, Peja Stojakovic and Chris Paul made sure it was another long night in the "Big Easy" for the Atlanta Hawks.

Stojakovic scored 29 points and Paul added 23 and 18 assists as the New Orleans Hornets posted a 116-101 victory over the Hawks on Wednesday.

New Orleans' leading scorer, West sat out due to a sprained ankle he suffered in practice on Tuesday.

Jannero Pargo scored 22 points off the bench and rookie Julian Wright had a season-high 13 points for the Hornets, who did not need West's services to beat the Hawks for the 12th time in the last 14 meetings here.

"Those guys did an outstanding job tonight," Paul said of the bench. "Coach told us before the game that we were missing a key part of our team. Coach told us to come out and play aggressive and they did that. Ju Ju (Julian Wright) is one of those guys who will play hard day in and day out. He comes to practice early and he leaves late."

West's absence mattered little because of the bench and the fact that Stojakovic and the Hornets were deadly from 3-point range. The 10-year veteran shot 7-of-11 from the arc as New Orleans tied a franchise record with 15 3-pointers.

"It's devastating to a team when you hit threes like that," Paul said. "It's a huge boost when you're making them but when the other team is making them on you it makes it tough to stay in a game."

New Orleans coach Byron Scott was happy with the way his team responded with West out.

"The bench played pretty well," Scott said. "Especially Julian. He did a heck of a job coming in and (Jannero) has been pretty steady. Like we talked about before the game, when you're missing 20 and 10, other guys are going to have to make up the difference."

Tyson Chandler dominated inside with 14 points and 16 rebounds for New Orleans, which led by double figures the entire fourth quarter.

It was a familiar yet unwanted occurrence for Atlanta, which allowed Golden State to hit 17 3-pointers in a 135-118 loss on Tuesday.

Paul had 15 points and 10 assists in the first half, when the Hornets hit nine 3-pointers en route to a 58-49 lead at the break.

"You want to try to put them on their heels as quick as possible," Scott said. "They played a tough one last night and then they had to travel so you don't want to wait and see what they've got left. You want to try to jump on them as early as possible and take the steam out of them right away, and I think we did that."

Joe Johnson scored 24 points and Mike Bibby added 21 for the Hawks, who have not won here since January 7, 2006.

"What made it most difficult is that they got us rotating and they were getting a lot of swing-swing 3-pointers and it was hard to stop," Hawks forward Josh Childress said. "They were knocking shots down and when they weren't, they were getting a lot of lobs over the top and back-door cuts. They are a tough team to defend."