Playing their first game in a new home, the New Orleans Hornets had to work out some butterflies. By the time they settled down, it was too late to salvage a win.
Andre Miller had 19 points and 10 rebounds and keyed a late surge to help the Denver Nuggets beat New Orleans 97-93 Sunday night, spoiling the Hornets' debut in Oklahoma City.
"We wanted to impress the crowd so much. The city has done so much for us and welcomed us right in, and we just wanted to give them a good show and show them that we're going to play for them," New Orleans guard Chris Paul said. "I think guys just had a little bit of jitters."
The Hornets, who rallied from a 26-point deficit in the first half, had a chance to tie after getting the ball out of bounds with 7.8 seconds left, but DerMarr Johnson blocked J.R. Smith's 3-pointer from the left wing and Greg Buckner made a free throw to secure the win.
"I think I hesitated too much instead of just shooting the ball," Smith said. "Usually I'm a catch-and-shoot kind of guy, and I think he froze me a little bit as opposed to me freezing him."
The Hornets, playing for the first time in Oklahoma City's Ford Center, pulled within 87-85 on David West's right-handed layup in the lane before Nene hit two free throws and Miller made a layup to start a 7-0 run by the Nuggets.
A 3-pointer by Chris Paul and two free throws by West with 31.8 seconds left brought the Hornets within 96-93. But the crowd of 14,575 — or about 250 more than the Hornets averaged last season in New Orleans — had to settle for a loss in the team's Oklahoma City debut. After being forced out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, the Hornets will play 35 home games in Oklahoma City this season.
"It felt like home real quickly," Hornets forward P.J. Brown said. "We didn't give the fans much to cheer about in the first half and it was tough. It was ugly, to be honest. In the second half, we brought our game to a higher level and the crowd came right along with us. They just exploded. They were super."
The Nuggets (5-1) have won five straight since starting the preseason with a 100-90 loss to the Hornets (1-4) in Denver.
ROCKETS 75, WIZARDS 71: At Houston, Yao Ming scored 20 points in 24 minutes and Juwan Howard added 14 points. Stromile Swift had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Rockets (5-1). Caron Butler went 8-of-14 from the field and scored 22 points for the Wizards (2-5). Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy used mostly reserves in the fourth quarter. Tracy McGrady left the game with 8:54 left in the third quarter and Yao's night ended about 5 minutes later.
CLIPPERS 99, MAVERICKS 80: At Dallas, Elton Brand, Sam Cassell and Cuttino Mobley each scored 21 points. Brand scored 13 points and Cassell added 12 in the third for the Clippers, who outscored the Mavericks 37-17 in the third quarter to erase an eight-point halftime deficit. Doug Christie and Marquis Daniels each had 12 points for Dallas.Dirk Nowitzki, who rested in the fourth quarter, scored just 10 points on 2-of-11 shooting. Dallas center Erick Dampier (right hip) and guard Jerry Stackhouse (right knee) missed the game.
CAVALIERS 87, RAPTORS 83: At Columbus, Ohio, Damon Jones hit an off-balance bank shot with 19 seconds left and added two clinching free throws. LeBron James led the Cavaliers (5-2) with 22 points, and Jones and Zydrunas Ilgauskas each added 19 and Donyell Marshall 14. Former Cougar Rafael Araujo had 17 points,.
SUNS 100, KINGS 88: At Fresno, Calif., Shawn Marion had 16 points and seven rebounds, Steve Nash added 15 points for Phoenix. Nash scored 13 points in the first half for the Suns, who jumped to a 70-50 lead in the third quarter with a 14-5 run after halftime. Raja Bell also scored 15 points for Phoenix, which made 12 3-pointers.
LAKERS 98, BOBCATS 97: At San Diego, Kobe Bryant scored 25 points, including his team's last field goal with 50 seconds left to lift the Lakers.
The Lakers (4-2) beat the Bobcats for the second time in three days.