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Hornets look to bounce back vs. lowly Bobcats

Nov 7, 2008 - 11:25 AM New Orleans (3-1) at Charlotte (1-3), 7:00 p.m. EST

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The New Orleans Hornets have designs on contending for an NBA title. To do that, they'll have to avoid letdowns on the road.

The Hornets will look to bounce back from their first loss of the season in the city where their franchise was born when they face the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday.

New Orleans, which went 26-15 on the road last season, opened the 2008-09 campaign by winning at Golden State and at Phoenix. They followed that with a win at home over Cleveland before falling flat in an 87-79 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

MVP candidate Chris Paul managed 22 points and 11 assists but the Hornets shot just 42 percent (30-of-71) from the floor.

New Orleans should have no trouble scoring against the Bobcats, who are allowing opponents to shoot better than 48 percent. The Hornets have gone 8-2 against Charlotte since the franchise's inception, including 3-2 here.

The Bobcats fell short in a 101-98 loss to the New York Knicks on Wednesday and have dropped two straight. Each member of the starting five scored at least 13 points against the Knicks and rookie D.J. Augustin came off the bench to add 14, but they committed 18 turnovers.

Emeka Okafor had 16 points and 15 rebounds while turning the ball over six times in the setback.