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West scores 29 as Hornets hold off Raptors

Dec 14, 2008 - 10:07 PM TORONTO (Ticker) -- David West led five players in double figures with 29 points as the New Orleans Hornets recorded a 99-91 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

James Posey recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for the Hornets, who led the entire fourth quarter. Chris Paul had 12 points and 12 assists for New Orleans, which shot 48 percent (36-of-75).

On a day when Paul seemed disinterested in scoring, West and Posey did the heavy lifting for the Hornets. West hit 10-of-16 from the floor and added nine rebounds, while Posey connected on 6-of-10 3-pointers - one shy of his career high.

Overall, New Orleans hit 12-of-33 from beyond the arc.

"We wanted to be aggressive this was a big game for us," West said. "Coach (Byron Scott) said, 'Man we got to win this game,'" West said.

"Pose got us off to a great start. He ended up with a double-double, and CP was CP," Scott said. "David was fantastic."

Chris Bosh scored 25 points to go with eight rebounds and six assists for Toronto, which fell to 2-4 under interim head coach Jay Triano. Toronto was aiming for its first three-game winning streak since starting the season 3-0.

"They made a lot of contested jumpers we missed a lot of them," Bosh said. "A lot of ins and outs we stayed consistent in our game plan and forced them to stay outside and that's what they did."

The Raptors were within striking distance the entire second half, but could not get over the hump.

Bosh made two free throws to make it 94-89 with 1:24 left, but Paul drove the lane and dished to Rasual Butler, who drilled a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to eight points with 1:01 left.

"Coming into this game we said it was going to take everybody to win this game and guys stepped up and hit shots," Butler said.

West scored 14 points in the third quarter, helping New Orleans to an 80-72 lead entering the final period.

The Hornets closed the half on a 17-4 run and carried a 51-46 lead into the locker room. Posey hit a pair of 3-pointers during the key spurt.

"I have confidence in my teammates, there's no hesitation you either have a shot or you make the pass that's how we play," Posey said.

Jose Calderon scored 22 points on 8-of-8 shooting for the Raptors, who shot just 38 percent (16-of-42) in the first half. Bosh was one of the main culprits, as he shot just 2-of-10 in the opening half.

"We're getting close to where we were," Calderon said. "We're playing much better we just missed some shots today."