Magic suffer worst loss of season in setback to Hornets

The Orlando Magic have been the best road team in the NBA for much of the season, but their trip to New Orleans on Wednesday night is definitely one they’d like to forget.  Chris Paul posted a double/double for the Hornets as they sent Orlando to their worst loss of the season, defeating the Magic 117-85.

Paul had 36 points and 10 assists—the 5^th time this season he’s posted 30 points and 10 assists—as the Hornets shot out to a 35-20 first quarter advantage and never looked back.  Paul was one of six Hornets scoring in double figures, with starters Rasual Butler and David West adding 15 and 14 points respectively.  Reserves Melvin Ely and Devin Brown scored 11 points apiece while Peja Stojakovic added 10.  After the game, Paul suggested that the Hornets would be a more aggressive team in the second half of the season:

"Me and D-West talked about it before the game last night -- if we go down, we've got to go down fighting. Any time you see the rim you've got to shoot it. You can't pass up shots and stuff like that. We just have to be aggressive and see where it takes us.”

There were few highlights for the Magic, who were led by 17 points and 8 assists from Rashard Lewis.  Dwight Howard suffered through one of his worst games of the season, with 12 points and 8 boards.  JJ Redick added 14 off the bench to complete the Magic’s triumvirate of double digit scorers.   Howard didn’t mince words after the game when assessing his team’s performance:

"It was a nightmare tonight. We just have to regroup. It's just one game.”

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy indicated that Chris Paul was simply too much for his charges:

"It was one of those nights a player just obliterated us. You can complain about your defense all you want, but sometimes great players just make you look worse than you are."