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Hornets look to continue playoff push

Feb 27, 2007 - 3:09 PM New Orleans (27-29) at Cleveland (32-24) 7:00 pm EST

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- David West and the New Orleans Hornets continue to make a playoff push in the tough Western Conference.

Looking for their third straight win, the Hornets visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.

The Western Conference is very strong at the top, but the final two playoff spots are up for grabs. After getting off to a slow start, the Hornets are tied with Denver for those last two spots in the conference.

The Hornets have won 15 of their last 22 games, including a 98-97 victory over Seattle on Saturday.

West had 23 points and 11 rebounds and Tyson Chandler added 15 and 19. Bobby Jackson scored 17 points off the bench and Chris Paul chipped in 13 and five steals for the Hornets, who extended their home winning streak to five games.

The Hornets will look to keep it going against the Cavaliers, who have lost two in a row after winning five out of six. Cleveland fell to Miami, 86-81, on Sunday. The Heat played without injured superstar Dwyane Wade.

Cavaliers superstar LeBron James had a big game but received very little help from his teammates. James scored 29 points on 10-of-22 shooting. The rest of his teammates made just 21-of-64 shots from the floor as Cleveland shot 36 percent (31-of-86) for the game.

Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas returned after missing four games for personal reasons. He collected eight points, nine rebounds and three blocks in the loss.