Paul, West Tandem In Closing Seconds Sinks Cavs Against Hornets

Cleveland, OH (AHN) - Chris Paul lured three defenders into his side on the way to the basket then found a wide-open David West for the go-ahead jumper with 0.6 seconds left on the clock and New Orleans hacked out a 100-99 victory over Cleveland Wednesday night at the Quicken Loans Arena.

After LeBron James pushed the Cavaliers ahead 99-98 with seven seconds to play, the Hornets sued for time and immediately went to Paul, who ran left after getting a screen before stopping and dishing off to the waiting West.

The All-Star forward, who finished with 20 points, calmly sank the 17-footer, in a last-second play that "worked to perfection" as coach Byron Scott termed it.

"We knew we were going to have a chance to get the ball to Chris Paul and let him create," Scott said. "We knew we were going to get a good look at it. If we got the shot, we didn't want to leave a lot of time on the clock. It was .6 when David nailed it."

"If (Paul) doesn't get the shot, I'm going to get it," said West, who shot 7-of-19 from the field and also had six rebounds and four assists. "Luckily, it worked out for us. Coach called my number at the end, and I was able to deliver. In that situation, we didn't want to give them a chance to come back at us. We just wanted to make sure that we got the last shot, miss or make."

James, who guarded Paul in that pivotal last-second play, scattered 21 points and eight assists but missed a long heave as time expired.

"If we get a stop, we win the ballgame," he said. "We played pretty good defense. We bottled him (Paul) up, but with eyes in the back of his head, he found David West."

The win moved the Hornets ahead by half-a-game over the L.A. Lakers, who were playing Charlotte Wednesday night, for the best record in the West. New Orleans' fifth straight victory also sent them one-and-a-half games up against tied Houston and San Antonio in the Southwest Division.

Peja Stojakovic finished with 25 points on six 3-pointers, Paul added 15 points and 20 assists, and Tyson Chandler and Jannero Pargo each had 13 points.

The Cavaliers drew a huge performance from Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who led all players with 29 points and 15 rebounds. Anderson Varejao, starting in place of the injured Ben Wallace, chipped in 11 points and 15 boards.

Cleveland, which had its nine-game home winning streak snapped, visits Detroit Saturday then hosts Philadelphia the following night.

The Hornets resume their six-game road trip Friday night at Boston.