Atlanta's Hawks fly very low

ATLANTA (AP):

Chris Paul scored 16 points and dished out eight assists in a laugher for the New Orleans Hornets, who took control late in the first half and held the Hawks to their lowest-scoring game in Atlanta history, a 100-59 rout Friday night.

New Orleans cruised to their seventh straight win against a Hawks team that shot 29 per cent and barely beat the franchise record for fewest points. As it was, the home team did eclipse the previous scoring low since moving to Atlanta 42 years ago, a 73-63 loss to Cleveland in 1996.

Only Jordan Crawford's three-pointer with 32 seconds remaining kept Hawks from their worst offensive effort ever - a 57-point game in 1955 when the team was in St Louis.

The Hawks looked totally listless without injured starters Al Horford and Marvin Williams. It was their worst home loss since a 118-74 blowout by Phoenix on March 30, 2000.

David West and Marco Belinelli both scored 15 points and Emeka Okafor pulled down 12 rebounds.

Lakers 107 Nuggets 97

DENVER (AP):

After criticising Denver fans for booing Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant gave the Pepsi Center crowd little to cheer about as he led Los Angeles past the Nuggets.

Bryant scored 14 of his 18 points in the decisive third quarter and was one of five Lakers to score at least 17. Ron Artest had a season-best 19 as did Pau Gasol. Lamar Odom added 18 and Andrew Bynum 17.

After frittering away double-digit leads in their last three games, the Lakers never let up after grabbing a 10-point advantage in the third quarter.

Anthony led Denver with 23 points after missing shootaround to attend to a personal matter, and Arron Afflalo chipped in 22.

The Nuggets had won seven of their previous nine regular-season games against Los Angeles at the Pepsi Center, but the Lakers' size bettered Denver's speed as the Nuggets lost for just the fifth time in 24 home games.

Led by Gasol's 13 boards and 10 from Odom, the Lakers outrebounded the Nuggets 47-27.

Celtics 110 Jazz 86

BOSTON (AP):

Kevin Garnett scored 21 points, Paul Pierce added 20 and Rajon Rondo had 12 assists to lead Boston to its fifth straight win.

Deron Williams had a season-low five points for the Jazz, who have lost three in a row. Earl Watson scored 12 for Utah, while Paul Millsap, Gordon Hayward and Andrei Kirilenko had 11 apiece.

Glen 'Big Baby' Davis scored 15 and Semih Erden had a career-high 14 points for the Celtics, who scored the last 11 points of the first half and never led by fewer than 17 in the second.

Spurs 101 Knicks 92

SAN ANTONIO (AP):

Tim Duncan had 21 points and 16 rebounds, and San Antonio extended their winning streak to eight games.

Tony Parker added 21 points and 13 assists as the Spurs avenged one of just six losses this season. That was in New York earlier this month, when the Knicks wore out the NBA's top team and put up a season-high 128 points on San Antonio.

New York sputtered in the rematch and tumbled to a fifth consecutive loss. Ronny Turiaf moved back into the starting lineup over Wilson Chandler, but the switch didn't instantly pay off like coach Mike D'Antoni wanted.

Raymond Felton led the Knicks with 23 points.

San Antonio (37-6) won their 17th straight at home.

Other results: Magic 112 Raptors 72, Suns 109 Wizards 91, Grizzlies 115 Rockets 110, Nets 89 Pistons 74, Bucks 102 Cavaliers 88, Warriors 119 Kings 112, OT.