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Hornets continue push for homecourt advantage

Mar 21, 2009 - 9:33 PM By Matt Beardmore STATS Writer

Golden State (25-44) at New Orleans (43-25) 7:00 p.m. EDT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The New Orleans Hornets are not going to underestimate non-playoff teams, especially at this time of the season.

Their push toward home-court advantage for at least one round of the playoffs continues Sunday night as they host a Golden State team that has no postseason aspirations but is playing better of late.

Locked in a crowded Western Conference playoff race with seven teams jockeying for the No. 2 seed, New Orleans (43-25) resumes its five-game homestand after posting back-to-back wins over two of the worst teams in the league. The victories, though, were not exactly playoff-quality efforts.

The Hornets were tied with slumping Memphis at 79 with less than five minutes remaining but used a 17-1 run to win, 96-84, on Friday.

Chris Paul continued his scoring tear with 32 points against the Grizzlies. Scoring a career-high 22.1 per game this season, Paul is averaging 29.3 on 57.7 percent shooting in his last six contests.

His scoring is up, but so are his minutes. Paul has played 40-plus minutes in five of his last seven games, including 41 on Friday and 41 in Wednesday's 94-93 win over lowly Minnesota as the Hornets only avoided a third straight loss after Randy Foye missed a jumper at the buzzer.

"I'm used to it," said Paul, among the league leaders at 38.0 minutes per game. "My whole thing is, no matter how tired I am or whatever, I push through and I can rest until the next game."

The Hornets have won nine of 11 at home since losing three straight at New Orleans Arena, helping them get within two games of San Antonio for the second seed. However, they're also just two games ahead of eighth-place Dallas.

"It just so happens that every game now is going to be a fight this time of year," David West said after scoring 29 points Friday.

West, averaging 38.6 minutes, has averaged 18.0 points and 11.0 rebounds as the Hornets and Warriors have split two meetings this season, with each team winning on the other's home floor.

Tyson Chandler is questionable Sunday after missing the last two games with a sore left ankle. Chandler was sidelined with a sprained left ankle for the 91-87 loss to Golden State on January 30, but he had 13 points and 16 rebounds in New Orleans' 108-103 victory in Oakland on October 29.

Golden State (25-44) now tries to put a dent in another team's playoff seeding after playing spoiler against Philadelphia on Friday with a 119-111 victory, its fourth in five home games.

"We got to running and playing fast, making the extra pass and knocking down shots," said Stephen Jackson, who just missed his second triple-double of the season with 14 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. "They made a run, but they couldn't get all the way back."

There's no chance for Golden State to make the playoffs, but it has won four of six after dropping six of seven from February 23-March 7.

After missing 27 games with a partial left shoulder separation, Brandan Wright is starting to look more comfortable. In his fifth game back, the second-year forward had a career-high 25 points against the 76ers. Wright had 11 points and 10 rebounds a night earlier for his second career double-double in a 114-106 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Warriors open a four-game trip Sunday. They have dropped 25 of their last 29 on the road by an average of 14.8 points.