Hornets Snap Brief Raptor Streak With 99-91 Win

The Toronto Raptors saw their brief win streak come to an end Sunday at the hands of the New Orleans Hornets.

But six games into a new Raptors regime led by interim head coach Jay Triano, the same sense of doom and gloom that had pervaded the locker-room earlier this season was noticeably absent.

“We’re building every game,” Raptors captain Chris Bosh said afterward. “We came up short today, but that’s basketball. We’re staying positive, we’re still going to play the same defence we’ve been playing, we go in there every game knowing our gameplan, we’re set in it, all we have to do is play with passion and play hard.”

David West poured in 29 points while James Posey added 20 – including six three-pointers – to lift the New Orleans Hornets to a 99-91 victory over the Raptors, snapping Toronto’s two-game win streak.

Bosh had 25 points and eight rebounds to lead Toronto (10-13), while Jose Calderon finished with 22 points and seven assists. Jermaine O’Neal chipped in with 19 points and seven boards in the losing effort, the first of back-to-back home games for Toronto.

Coming off a big 101-79 victory at New Jersey on Friday, and putting up a solid effort against a strong team in the Hornets, the Raptors players said there are obvious signs of improvement.

“I feel pretty good even with the loss,” said Calderon, who was a perfect 8-for-8 from the field. “We’re competing against everybody now, we had a chance to win, they’re a pretty good team.

“We’re getting close to where we want, we’re playing much better on defence, and our offence too. I think everybody’s feeling comfortable the way we’re playing now. We’re going to be OK. I keep being positive because I feel like every day we’re a little bit better team.”

Chris Paul had 12 points and 12 assists for the Hornets (13-7), who were missing Tyson Chandler (stiff neck). Former Raptor Morris Peterson, who kneeled down and kissed the court in his one appearance back at the Air Canada Centre last season, didn’t get the chance Sunday as he didn’t play a minute.

The Raptors had a strong enough start and led for much of the first half, but the Hornets began to assert their control late in the first half and then took an 80-72 lead into the final 12 minutes.

A long jumper by Peja Stojakovic put the Hornets up by 11 points with 8:30 left in the game. The Raptors managed to pull within five points on a pair of free throws by Bosh with 1:24 left, but Rasual Butler drained a three with 1:02 on the clock to put the Hornets back up by eight, and the visitors held on for the victory.

While Toronto played one of its best defensive games of the season in Friday’s win, holding the Nets to 31.3 per cent shooting and forcing 19 turnovers, they couldn’t do the same against New Orleans, allowing the Hornets to shoot 48 per cent.

New Orleans took advantage of Triano’s defensive gameplan to clog up the paint, scorching Toronto from beyond the arc – the Hornets connected on 12 three-pointers.

“These are the days where you tip your hat, they made their threes,” Triano said. “It wasn’t the way they shot threes, we didn’t do a very good job of executing what we wanted to do defensively.”

Toronto shot 40.3 per cent on the afternoon. The Hornets outrebounded Toronto 38-35.

“You have to give them credit because they took away the first couple options and forced us to make the extra pass,” Posey said of Toronto. “They did a great job defensively. . . late in the shot clock we still made the extra pass for the shot.”

The Raptors raced out to an eight-point lead early in the opening quarter Sunday, but the Hornets outscored Toronto 9-3 to the end of the quarter, cutting Toronto’s advantage to 24-22 heading into the second.

Toronto went back up by eight points midway through the second, but a three-pointer by Posey – one of four he would score in the quarter – kick-started a 15-2 Hornets run and the visitors took a 51-46 in the dressing room at halftime.

West led the way with 14 points in the third quarter as the Hornets twice took a nine-point lead, and led 80-72 heading into the fourth.

The Raptors announced the signing of free agent centre Jake Voskuhl later Sunday to shore up Toronto’s frontcourt. Voskuhl was the No. 33 pick in the 2000 draft by Chicago and has also played for Phoenix, Charlotte and Milwaukee.

Raptors forward Kris Humphries has missed the last six games with knee tendinitis, while forward Nathan Jawai has yet to play for Toronto after his pre-season tests showed a heart irregularity.