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Hornets host Bobcats in the Big Easy

Dec 1, 2010 - 4:10 PM (Sports Network) - The New Orleans Hornets will try and put the brakes on a modest two-game slide when they welcome a Charlotte Bobcats team minus Stephen Jackson to the Big Easy.

The Hornets have hit the skids after an impressive 11-1 start, dropping their second game in a row and their fourth in five contests on Monday in Oklahoma City when Kevin Durant scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Thunder edged New Orleans, 95-89.

David West led the Hornets with 20 points and Chris Paul scored 17 with 14 assists for New Orleans. Emeka Okafor added 13 points and 11 rebounds and both Trevor Ariza and Marco Belinelli finished with 10 points in defeat.

"I thought we competed our tails off on the road in a tough back-to-back," Hornets coach Monty Williams said. "The ball didn't go down. It happens."

The Bobcats, meanwhile, lost for the third time in four contests on Saturday in Milwaukee when Brandon Jennings scored 32 points and the Bucks held on down the stretch for a 104-101 victory over Charlotte.

Charlotte was within two points, 102-100, when Gerald Wallace was fouled going to the net with 7.1 seconds remaining. The Bobcats originally said Wallace hyper-extended his elbow on the play and he was forced to leave the game. Milwaukee selected Kwame Brown to shoot the Bobcat free throws. Brown went 1- of-2 from the line, getting Charlotte within a point, but Jennings iced the win for the Bucks on a pair of free throws with 5.7 seconds left.

D.J. Augustin scored 26 to pace the Bobcats, and Wallace added 19 in Charlotte's fourth loss in six games.

Stephen Jackson, Charlotte's leading scorer at 18.1 points per game, was ejected in the first quarter of that contest after picking up two technical fouls for arguing with the officials. The volatile Jackson was then suspended by the NBA on Tuesday for one game and will sit out tonight's contest.

Wallace's injury has now been described as a contusion and the All-Star has been listed as probable for tonight.

The Hornets, who are 7-1 on their home floor, have won eight of their last 11 meetings with Charlotte although the Bobcats won the last encounter, a 104-103 triumph in the Big Easy last April.