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Paul scores 40 again as Hornets rout Grizzlies

Dec 27, 2007 - 5:00 AM By Shawn Pachucki PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) - Chris Paul continued his personal attack against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Paul had 40 points and nine assists as the New Orleans Hornets pushed their winning streak to three games with a 116-98 victory over the Grizzlies on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old floor general drained 17-of-25 shots - including 5-of-8 from 3-point range - en route to his second-best outing of the season. He also had five rebounds and five steals.

"They were giving me some space early and some chances to take shots, so it was my job to get it going for us," Paul said. "I don't know that it's really anything about what (Memphis) does that lets me to have big games. It's more about our guys playing well and finding ways to be aggressive and score points."

On December 7, Paul poured in a career-best 43 points and nine assists in an 118-116 overtime victory over the Grizzlies, who were burned for 28 points by the former Rookie of the Year in the first meeting on November 16.

In three meetings, Paul is averaging 37 points and 10 assists against Memphis.

After netting 15 points in the first half, Paul remained on fire in the third as he accounted for 16 of the Hornets' 34 points to forge an 86-73 advantage to start the fourth quarter.

"That is the best performance I have seen since Steve Nash and Jason Kidd," Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni said. "(Paul) has got no limit to what he can do on pick-and-rolls. We tried to get the ball out of his hands - he found shooters and they buried us. We came up and helped - he found the roll guys for lobs. He buried us."

The Grizzlies, who have lost nine of 10 in the series, were never able to regroup in the final period.

After allowing Memphis to shot a blistering 62 percent in the first period, the Hornets' defense responded by holding them to just 37 percent the rest of the way.

"In the second half, we were able to get up on them by keeping the pressure on them defensively," Paul said. "A lot of our offense in the second half started on the defensive end. We got off slow, but we got it together quick and we got it done."

Peja Stojakovic scored 21 points and David West contributed 20 and nine rebounds for New Orleans, which shot an impressive 55 percent (48-of-86) from the field.

Mike Miller and Rudy Gay netted 19 points for the Grizzlies, who committed 17 turnovers as they dropped four of their last five games.

"They just played a lot more aggressive than we did," Memphis guard Kyle Lowry said. "They got a lot of shots. We got outplayed. We need to get back to the basics."

Memphis big man Pau Gasol had been averaging better than 20 points since returning from a toe injury last week, but managed just five shots against defensive ace Tyson Chandler.