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Hornets begin key road trip vs. Raptors

Mar 1, 2011 - 3:58 PM (Sports Network) - Playing outside of the Big Easy hasn't been as smooth as having homecourt advantage for the New Orleans Hornets, who will start a five- game road trip tonight against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre.

The Hornets are 14-17 on the road as opposed to their 21-9 home record, and have lost eight of their last 11 games. In Sunday's 91-89 loss to the Houston Rockets at New Orleans Arena, David West scored 22 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out five assists, while Marco Belinelli scored 14 points.

Trevor Ariza and Carl Landry netted 13 points apiece in a losing effort.

"It's tough," Ariza said. "We had an opportunity to come out of the third quarter and step on them. They took that opportunity and came back."

All-Star Chris Paul had just six points to go with 12 assists and big man Emeka Okafor registered six points and pulled down 14 boards.

New Orleans will also visit the Knicks, Grizzlies, Cavs and Bulls on the upcoming road swing, and sit fifth in the Western Conference standings.

Toronto will close out a four-game homestand Tuesday night and have dropped two straight and seven of nine games, including a 114-96 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

Amir Johnson had 21 points and DeMar DeRozan contributed 19 for the Raptors, who are 1-2 on the homestand and 11-20 as the host. Jose Calderon added 15 points and eight assists in a losing effort.

"We couldn't stop them in the second half," Johnson said. "Plain and simple... We couldn't stop them in the second half."

The Raptors played without Andrea Bargnani because of flu-like symptoms and he's questionable for this evening. Bargnani is averaging 25.6 points this month and ranks seventh among Eastern Conference players with 22.0 ppg.

DeRozan has posted 18.9 ppg over his previous 11 games. After tonight's game the Raptors will cross the Atlantic Ocean to London, England for two games against the New Jersey Nets on March 4-5. The two teams will play at The O2 Arena, where events from the 2012 Summer Olympics will be held. New Jersey will be considered the home team for these contests.

Jarrett Jack, Belinelli and David Andersen will all make their return to Air Canada Centre tonight since being traded this season. Jack, Andersen and guard Marcus Banks were traded to New Orleans in November for Jerryd Bayless and Peja Stojakovic. Belinelli was dealt to the Hornets, while Julian Wright landed with the Raptors in an August deal.

New Orleans recorded an 85-81 win over Toronto on Jan. 17 in the Big Easy and has won four of the past six meetings.