• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Barnes, Davis help Warriors end 11-game road slide vs. Hornets

Jan 3, 2007 - 5:38 AM OKLAHOMA CITY (Ticker) -- The New Orleans Hornets had no answers for Matt Barnes and Baron Davis.

Barnes had 29 points and 11 rebounds and Davis also scored 29 points as the Golden State Warriors won for the third time in four games with a 97-89 victory over the Hornets.

The triumph snapped an 11-game road losing streak for the Warriors against the Hornets, dating to January 20, 1996.

"Is that right? I wasn't aware of that," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "None of those losses in the past make a difference in what we did."

"It's good for us to get a win in a hostile environment," Davis said. "Hopefully we can get a couple more road wins and give us momentum and push us into the playoffs. I didn't know we hadn't won on the road against them in a long time, we were only worried about tonight."

Barnes is averaging 19 points and 7.6 rebounds over his last six games.

"He (Barnes) played big and hit some big shots for us," Davis said. "He was very active, got steals, got us rebounds, he played an all-around great game for us. We need that every night."

Golden State closed the third period with an impressive 14-4 burst capped by Mickael Pietrus' 3-pointer from the left corner as time expired for a 76-63 advantage.

But the Hornets stormed back with an 11-0 surge of their own, cutting the deficit to 76-74 on Rasual Butler's 18-footer with 7:03 left. Jannero Pargo scored seven points during the run.

Davis connected on a high-arcing jumper, then found Barnes wide open in the right corner for a 3-pointer with 46 seconds remaining, helping the Warriors build a 94-85 advantage.

"I got a bucket, then Barnes killed them with that last 3-pointer, that sealed it for us and put us ahead for good," said Davis, who had seven rebounds and seven assists.

"I had missed two in a row in the corner earlier but they felt really good," Barnes said. "I knew I was going to get another chance to shoot. Baron came down and was able to find me, and I was able to knock it down. It felt good when I shot it and it felt better when it went in."

Pietrus scored 13 points and Mike Dunleavy added 10 for Golden State, which shot 39 percent (34-of-86) from the field.

Butler scored 30 points and Pargo chipped in 24 and eight assists for the Hornets, who fell to 4-16 since starting the season 8-3.

"We needed points, and I had an opportunity playing all 48 minutes," Butler said. "Sure it looks good in the paper, but we lost so it doesn't matter. If we lose our effort means nothing."

"I don't think our effort was as great as it has been the last week," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "We just didn't do the things we need to do for 48 minutes to win ballgames."