MILWAUKEE – Chris Paul scored 30 points and Tyson Chandler tied his season-high with 17 rebounds to lead the New Orleans Hornets to a 95-86 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night at the Bradley Center.
The Hornets had a decisive edge in the rebounding battle, grabbing 46 boards to Milwaukee’s 30.
New Orleans also shot 25 free throws, compared to the Bucks with only seven.
“Rebounds and fouls, those were the two things,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said after the game. “We got in the penalty early in both quarters in the second half and then every time we touch them they shoot free throws. We had a very hard time on the glass with them.”
The Bucks were led offensively by Richard Jefferson with 27 points, with Charlie Bell and Keith Bogans contributing 15 and 14 points off the bench, respectively.
But Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions struggled from the field, combining to only score 14 points on 6-20 shooting.
“If we’re gonna hit a stride where we’re really playing our best basketball, with the way our team is right now, we need four, five, six guys playing well on a given night,” Skiles said. “Two guys is not good enough and we’re probably not gonna win. We need multiple players playing well on both ends of the floor.”
Even with the loss, the Bucks remain in the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race, leading Chicago by a couple percentage points. The New York Knicks, Charlotte Bobcats, and New Jersey Nets are also all within one game of the Bucks’ coveted eighth seed.
“We might lose X amount of games and still make it,” Jefferson said. “If we lose eight in a row and we’re still in the eighth spot, I’m not gonna feel bad for ourselves.”
Both teams got off to a slow start in the first quarter, with the game tied 5-5 through the opening 8:25. The first quarter ended with the team’s tied 14-14, with Milwaukee shooting under 32 percent and New Orleans under 24 percent.
The Bucks began the second quarter on an 11-2 run, started by back-to-back three-pointers from Keith Bogans. Richard Jefferson, Charlie Bell, and Bogans scored 25 of the Bucks’ first 27 points.
At halftime, Charlie Villanueva had been kept off the board entirely, with no points, assists, or rebounds. Yet the Bucks only trailed by one, 39-38.
In the third quarter, Hornets All-Stars Chris Paul and David West began to heat up. Paul had 10 points in the period, including 6-6 at the free throw line. West scored eight points and pulled down three rebounds. But New Orleans only carried a three point lead into the fourth.
Milwaukee tied the game at 73-73 after a Luke Ridnour three-point shot with 7:29 to play, but the Hornets followed with an 11-2 run and led the rest of the way.
“They are a good team,” Charlie Bell said. “And Chris Paul is probably the best point guard in the league.”
New Orleans improved to 9-1 since getting Tyson Chandler back in the line-up. Chandler missed over a month of action in January and February due to injury, and was then traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, that trade was rescinded when the Thunder team doctor determined that a previous injury to Chandler’s left big toe had too great a chance of becoming re-aggravated.
Two of those nine New Orleans victories have come against the Bucks, due in large part to Chandler’s play. He had a game-winning tip-in basket with only seconds remaining two weeks ago when the Hornets hosted Milwaukee, and had 17 rebounds (seven on the offensive glass) Friday at the Bradley Center.
“I think my teammates bonded around the fact that I was gone and then came back,” Chandler said before the game.
“He came back and had a little chip on his shoulder, which can help a player and a team” Hornets coach Byron Scott said. “He understood that we still loved him and we still wanted him and still thought a lot of him. He got on the plane talking about ‘You guys can’t get rid of me’ and everyone had a big joke. Luckily for us, the trade was rescinded and we got him back.”
Milwaukee drops to 1-2 on its current six-game home stand, with the defending champion Boston Celtics coming to town for a Noon tip-off on Sunday.
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