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Raptors resume road trip in Big Easy vs. Hornets

Jan 17, 2011 - 3:58 PM (Sports Network) - The New Orleans Hornets will celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this afternoon, when they welcome the Toronto Raptors to the Big Easy.

New Orleans has won four in a row and will also host the Memphis Grizzlies on this brief residency. It is 15-5 at New Orleans Arena this season and posted an 88-81 victory in Charlotte on Saturday night, receiving 26 points and eight rebounds from big man David West.

Chris Paul added 19 points, Trevor Ariza netted 11 and Emeka Okafor rounded out the top contributors with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Hornets, winners in seven of the past nine games overall.

"We talked about not having any let downs out there. We forced them to make big plays," West told NBA.com. "We didn't allow them a big run and being able to control the tempo was big for us. We wanted to make sure that the last part of each quarter we got what we wanted."

West is averaging 27.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in his last two games, while Okafor is posting 15.0 points and 13.0 rebounds in the last three.

Toronto will continue a five-game road trip Monday and has lost three straight and seven of nine games, including Saturday's 98-95 loss in Washington.

Andrea Bargnani posted 25 points and Jose Calderon finished just shy of a triple-double with 21 points, 15 assists and nine rebounds for the Raptors, who fell to 5-15 away from Air Canada Centre this season. Amir Johnson ended with 12 points and 10 boards in a losing cause.

"I can't ask for much more from our guys," said Raptors head coach Jay Triano. "On a back-to-back, and we have so many guys who are hurt and our margin of error isn't very good."

The Raptors are expected to be without guard Leandro Barbosa (hamstring) for a few weeks, while guard Jerryd Bayless is listed as questionable for tonight's game with a sore left ankle. Toronto will also make stops in San Antonio, Orlando and Miami on the trek.

Bargnani is averaging 25.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and shooting .496 from the field in the previous seven games.

The Hornets and Raptors are meeting for the first time since Toronto swept a home-and-home set a season ago. Toronto is just 7-12 in its last 19 contests at the Hornets.