OKLAHOMA CITY — He scored the game's first four baskets and six of New Orleans/Oklahoma City's first seven with Carlos Boozer trying to guard him.
He scored another 15 points in the second half with Mehmet Okur trying to guard him.
And he finished with a game-high 31, drawing the praise of many with the Jazz after Utah rallied to beat the Hornets 105-104 Friday night.
"He just kicked us all over the gym," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of forward David West, who played Friday despite having re-sprained his ankle in a Wednesday win over Seattle. "He was a man out there to try to deal with, and we didn't really get up and play him hard."
It didn't change until the very end, when Okur finally clamped down.
"Down the stretch a couple times we got up on a little more, rather than giving him space," Sloan said. "You give him space, and that's where we got ourselves in trouble. He shot it. Sometimes he got us up in the air and drove, and then pitched the ball to somebody else. He's tough to handle."
West finished 14-of-18 from the field, and also pulled down 12 rebounds for his 19th double-double of the season.
HOT ROD ABSENT: Steve Brown filled in on the radio call of Friday's game for usual play-by-play announcer Hot Rod Hundley, who was in Phoenix to be with a close family member who is fighting cancer.
It's believed to be just the fourth Jazz game Hundley has missed over the past 20 years.
Brown, was has filled in six times this season on television broadcasts while regular announcer Craig Bolerjack was working assignments for CBS, was calling his first NBA game on the radio.
WHAT'S IN A NAME: The Hornets received permission from the NBA to wear jerseys emblazoned with "Oklahoma City" across the front Friday against the Jazz, a one-time gesture for the team's final home game of the regular season.
"New Orleans is our home, and we are committed to rebuilding that great city and playing there again," franchise owner George Shinn said in a news release. "But at the same time, we feel it's important to acknowledge the way Oklahoma has embraced this team."
The Hornets played most of their home games at the Ford Center here after being displaced from New Orleans, the Jazz's former home, when Hurricane Katrina struck last year.
They sold out half of their 36 games here this season, averaging 18,717 per game, and plan to play another 35 games in Oklahoma City next season.
E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com