West, Paul Lead Hornets Past Lakers 116-105

Those 10 points were all Gasol would score. He also had eight rebounds and five assists.

Los Angeles Lakers' Lamar Odom holds his knee before leaving the game against the New Orleans Hornets during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

(AP)

Odom scored four straight points to give the Lakers their first lead at 39-38. It was 50-all when the Hornets scored nine straight points, but Trevor Ariza and Bryant made 3-pointers around a basket by Paul in the final 24 seconds of the half to cut New Orleans' lead to 61-56.

Gasol, averaging 17.6 points, didn't score in the first half, missing all four shots he tried.

Paul had 15 points and four assists in the first quarter, and New Orleans led by as many as nine points before settling for a 32-26 lead. The Hornets shot 52 percent to 40.9 percent for Los Angeles and outrebounded the Lakers 15-9 in the period. There were only two turnovers — one by each team.

Notes:@ The Lakers had won three straight games over the Hornets including two earlier this season in New Orleans, by scores of 93-86 and 100-97. ... F Melvin Ely, hampered by sore right ankle, returned to action after missing four games and was the first player off the New Orleans bench. He went scoreless in six minutes. ... Vladimir Radmanovic, who started the first 20 games of the season, returned to the Lakers' lineup due to the absence of Walton, who missed his second game and is expected to be sidelined at least two weeks. Radmanovic had three points in 24 minutes. ... Chandler returned to action after serving a one-game suspension for an altercation with Portland's Joel Przybilla last Friday night. The Hornets lost that game, 105-100 at Denver, to snap a four-game losing streak. ... The Lakers hadn't allowed an opposing player to score more than 23 points in their previous seven games.

(This version CORRECTS Hornets 116, Lakers 105. SUBS 3rd graf to correct 3-point totals.)

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