Hornets put Spurs in double trouble

Shutting down David West only gave the San Antonio Spurs front-row seats for the Chris Paul show.

With razzle-dazzle dribbles and a driving floater that couldn’t miss, Paul had 30 points and 12 assists, leading the New Orleans Hornets to a 102-84 victory Monday night and a 2-0 lead over the visiting Spurs in their second-round playoff series.

“We’re just riding a wave right now,” Paul said.

Peja Stojakovic made five three-point baskets and scored 25 points for the Hornets, who’ve won both games easily in becoming the first team to put San Antonio in an 0-2 hole since 2001, when the Spurs were swept by the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.

“We’ve still got a lot of people out there that doubt us,” Hornets Coach Byron Scott said. “I think that’s what fuels these guys. We’ve been proving people wrong all season.”

After allowing West to score a playoff career-high 30 points in the opener, the Spurs held the All-Star power forward to 10 points on two-for-11 shooting. But West remained active under the basket with 10 rebounds.

Tim Duncan led San Antonio with 18 points and eight rebounds, far better than his miserable Game 1, when he tied a career-playoff low with five points and three rebounds. But by the final minutes, Duncan was staring dejectedly from the bench.

“It’s just frustrating losing. That’s the biggest thing,” Duncan said. “They’ve obviously done an excellent job defensively, frustrating all of us with their double-teaming, with their shifting.”

The Spurs continued to settle for three-pointers, going eight for 27 from that distance and finishing at 42.5% shooting overall. The Hornets shot 48%.

Trailing 43-42 at halftime, the Hornets opened the second half with a 10-0 run and never trailed again.

Detroit 100, Orlando 93 -- The Pistons took advantage of what seemed to be a little help from the scorer’s table in taking a 2-0 series lead.

Chauncey Billups scored 28 points, three on a disputed shot at the end of the third quarter.

Billups officially made a three-pointer with 0.5 seconds left in the third, ending a play that started with 5.1 seconds and seemed to take a fraction of a second longer using replays the officials couldn’t use during a five-minute delay.

The shot put Detroit ahead, 78-76.

“[The officials] had to estimate how much time [was left] and they estimated 4.6 seconds,” Orlando Coach Stan Van Gundy said. “That’s almost funny.

“What can you do? They were put in a very tough situation on that call.”

The Magic still had a chance to win after trailing by 14 in the first half.

Orlando had the ball down by two points late in the game, but Rashard Lewis missed a running scoop shot, Dwight Howard just missed on a putback and Hedo Turkoglu couldn’t grab the offensive rebound.

Howard bounced back from a lackluster Game 1 with 22 points, 18 rebounds and two blocked shots.