Hornets hustle past Celtics to remain undefeated

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hornets hustle past Celtics to remain undefeated
By Brett Martel, Associated Press, 11/1/2003

New Orleans -- Baron Davis made six 3-pointers and scored 37 points to lead
New Orleans over the Boston Celtics 97-90 Saturday night, giving the Hornets
the first 3-0 start in franchise history.

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Davis was 6-for-7 from 3-point range, his last coming with 4:26 left and
giving the Hornets a 91-87 lead. The Hornets hit 12-pointers in all.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 25, while Raef LaFrentz scored 17 coming off
the bench. Vin Baker, who led the Celtics with 24 points and eight rebounds in
a victory a night earlier in Memphis, could not sustain a strong start and
finished with only eight points.

The victory gave new Hornets coach Tim Floyd a 3-0 start. Floyd's best winning
streak in Chicago during three-plus losing seasons was three.

David Wesley scored 18 for New Orleans, while P.J. Brown added 14.

Davis had his best game of the young season. He hustled in transition to
finish fast breaks with dunks and finger rolls, drilled quick jumpers coming
off screens and added seven assists and five steals.

Led by Pierce, Boston began the second half with a 17-2 run to take a 65-58
lead -- with the rally capped by an alley-oop pass from Mike James to Kedrick
Brown.

But Davis helped pull the Hornets back ahead with 11 third-quarter points,
including consecutive baskets on a jumper and a two-handed reverse dunk to put
the Hornets ahead 73-72.

The Hornets never trailed in the fourth quarter as Boston failed to score for
the first 5:02. James, who finished with 12 points, broke the drought with a
3-pointer that made the score 86-82. Pierce got Boston as close as 88-87 when
he scored as he was fouled and hit the free throw.

The opening quarter was a shooting exhibition, with New Orleans making 65
percent from the field and the Celtics 62 percent. The Hornets bore a strong
resemblance to long-bombing Boston, hitting five 3-pointers in the period,
including two each by Wesley and Davis. Boston hit three from long range, two
of them by LaFrentz.

Davis was everywhere in the first half. He intercepted Pierce's pass at
midcourt and drove straight in for a soaring one-handed jam. He hit one
end-to-end layup as he seemingly squirmed between three defenders in the
paint, and finished several fast breaks and hit jumpers from the perimeter,
scoring 19 in the half.

Davis also had five assists, finding Armstrong open for a 3-pointer in the
last second of the half.

Notes: Eric Williams, who left in the third quarter of the Celtics' game
Friday night with a hyperextended right knee, did not play. ... Davis missed
tying a career high by one point. ... The Celtics shot 40.7 percent. They had
shot better than 45 percent in their first two games, both victories. New
Orleans shot 47.9 percent.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx