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Hornets stay perfect with rout of Blazers

Nov 14, 2010 - 5:28 AM New Orleans, LA (Sports Network) - David West and Marco Belinelli scored 18 points apiece to lead the Hornets to a 107-87 triumph over Portland at New Orleans Arena.

Emeka Okafor scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while Chris Paul, Peja Stojakovic and Willie Green supplied 11 each for the Hornets, who are off to the best start in franchise history at 8-0. New Orleans has won 10 regular season games in a row, dating back to last season, to match the longest win streak in team annals, set from February 21-March 13, 1998.

"It's good to get a win and play our style of basketball, " said New Orleans forward Trevor Ariza, who scored 10 points and hauled in five rebounds. "It's defense every night. It's been the key for us. We're all supposed to be one unit and that's what we try to display out there on the defensive end."

Nicolas Batum scored 16 points while Andre Miller and Wesley Matthews provided 14 each for the Trail Blazers, who have lost two in a row and three out of four.

Down by as many as 14 in the third quarter, the Blazers drew to within 75-70 on a pair of Matthews foul shots with 11:21 to play in the game.

Two Jerryd Bayless foul shots and two buckets and a free throw by Green over the next 75 seconds pushed the New Orleans lead to 82-70.

Portland never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.

With the Blazers trailing 26-14 in the first quarter, a Rudy Fernandez triple and a Matthews jumper in the final 46 seconds pulled the Blazers to within 26-19 after the first quarter.

The Hornets lead fluctuated between 11 and 17 over the final eight minutes of the second quarter as they took a 48-35 lead at the break.

"We got off to a slow start and this is two games in a row that has happened," said Portland head coach Nate McMillan. "We need to put together 48 minutes of good basketball."

Game Notes

The Hornets have held all eight of their opponents under 100 points. They are 5-0 at home...This was the first time the home team had won in the last six meetings between the two teams...New Orleans made 25-of-27 from the foul line. Miller knocked down 7-of-10 shots for the Blazers, who made only 4-of-17 from three-point territory...Portland never led in the game, as the Hornets have not trailed by double digits at any point in their first eight games.