Emotional Paul leads Hornets to win at Phoenix

On the day the Hornets got their worst news of the season, they came up with one of their best victories.

Chris Paul scored 22 points, including the go ahead jump shot with 1:35 to play, as New Orleans won at Phoenix 106-100 Friday night. Earlier in the day, an MRI revealed that Hornets two time All Star forward David West would be lost for the rest of the season and possible playoffs with a torn ACL in his left knee.

After the victory, Paul chest bumped head coach Monty Williams. He then spoke emotionally about West. Said Paul, "That win was for him (West). We lost my brother. Some people in life are closer than family, and D West is one of those people." West suffered the injury on a dunk with 6.7 seconds to play in Thursday night's win at Utah.

Carl Landry, starting in place of West, scored 19 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in 30:42 of action.

Phoenix was led by Grant Hill and Marcin Gortat with 18 points each. Gortat left the game with a broken nose suffered on a collision with Steve Nash. Nash scored only 3 points on 1 for 9 shooting.

The Hornets moved to 42-31, 2 games ahead of 8th place Memphis, and 3 and 1/2 games ahead of 9th place Houston.

The Hornets play the Lakers in Los Angeles Sunday night.