New Orleans overcame the absence of top scorer Chris Paul on Saturday to edge Memphis 109-102 in overtime and snap the Grizzlies’ 11-game NBA home winning streak.
Rookie Darren Collison — starting in place of the injured Paul — scored 17 points with a career-high 18 assists as the Hornets rallied from a 21-point third-quarter deficit.
David West led New Orleans with 22 points and Emeka Okafor had 21.
It was the fourth time in their past 10 games that the Hornets went to overtime, and they had lost the previous three.
This time, Collison’s steal and dunk with 24 seconds remaining put the game out of reach.
Peja Stojakovic scored 20 points for the Hornets and Marcus Thornton had 14.
Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol had 25 points apiece for Memphis, which had not lost a home game since falling to Boston in December.
They didn’t look likely to lose this one for much of the night. Memphis were on fire in the first quarter, building a 15-point lead as New Orleans struggled from the field.
The Grizzlies stretched the lead to 61-42 at halftime, but New Orleans began to fight back after the break, narrowing the gap to 81-76 going into the fourth quarter.
The Hornets kept hammering away and Stojakovic’s three-pointer with 58.2 seconds to play in regulation pulled New Orleans within 97-96.
Okafor then made one of two free throws to knot the score at 97-97, and from there it went to overtime.
New Orleans opened the extra period with a 6-2 scoring run, taking the lead for the first time in the contest. New Orleans coach Jeff Bower said before the game that Paul’s absence with a bruised left knee was “short term.”
“It’s just short term, day to day is the extent of it,” he said.
■MAGIC V HAWKS
REUTERS, ORLANDO, Florida
The Orlando Magic bounced the Atlanta Hawks from first place in the Southeast Division on Saturday with a bruising 104-86 victory.
The Magic (31-16), who trailed the Hawks by a half-game before the clash, took over the top spot with their third successive win over Atlanta this season.
All-Star center Dwight Howard powered his way to 31 points and 19 rebounds for the Magic, who broke open the game with a 17-2 run in the third quarter.
The win was Orlando’s sixth consecutive against the Hawks.
Johnson and Jamal Crawford each had 19 points for an off-target Atlanta offense.
■BLAZERS V MAVERICKS
AP, DALLAS
Andre Miller scored a career-high 52 points and Juwan Howard hit a jumper with 44.8 seconds left to lift the Portland Trail Blazers past the Dallas Mavericks 114-112 on Saturday.
In other NBA action, it was:
● Bucks 95, Heat 84
● Wizards 106, Knicks 96
● Bobcats 103, Kings 96
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