A pair of losses against division-leading teams derailed a bit of the New Orleans Hornets' momentum, and they'll be trying to avoid a similar fate on Friday night as they host the Southwest Division rival Houston Rockets.
New Orleans (16-9) had a four-game winning streak snapped with Tuesday's 100-87 home loss to the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Lakers before falling 88-68 at Southeast Division leader Orlando on Thursday in one of the league's five Christmas Day matchups.
Chris Paul and David West, leading the team with 19.9 and 19.4 points per contest, respectively, combined for 25 for New Orleans, which fell into a 30-point deficit at halftime and shot a season-low 33.3 percent (28-for-84) from the field.
For the Hornets to avoid their first three-game slide of the season, they'll need a more solid offensive effort against a Rockets team that ranks among the top defenses in the league, allowing the seventh-fewest points per game (94.0) while limiting opponents to 44.0 percent shooting.
New Orleans will face another division leader as Houston (19-10) enters tied with San Antonio for the top spot in the Southwest after the Spurs edged Phoenix 91-90 on Thursday.
We have to understand that against some of the these (teams) you can come out and mess around a little bit, but against the Lakers, Orlando and the team we play (Friday) night you can't come out that way,
Hornets coach Byron Scott said. That's the bottom line.
Paul, the NBA steals leader (3.0 average), had his league-record string of 108 games with at least one snapped Thursday.
New Orleans dropped its first meeting this season with Houston, 91-82 on the road on Nov. 15. Paul was held to a season-low 12 points -- also his total on Thursday -- as he was swarmed by Houston defenders.
Chris is a phenomenal point guard who likes to probe a lot,
Rockets swingman Tracy McGrady said after that victory. Our guys really did a great job not getting caught up in picks, staying with him and either making him take tough shots or kicking it to his guys who were covered. We didn't give many wide-open looks.
Houston fell to 2-1 on its current four-game road swing as it had a season-high four-game winning streak snapped by a 99-90 loss at Central-leading Cleveland on Tuesday.
Rafer Alston scored 20 points in his first game back after missing four with a strained hamstring, while Yao Ming added 19 for the Rockets, who were playing their fourth game in five nights.
That tough stretch appeared to catch up with McGrady, the team's second-leading scorer with 16.1 points per game. He was limited to four points on 2-of-7 shooting.
We still have a lot of room for improvement,
McGrady told the Rockets' official Web site. We really put ourselves up at the top; I still feel we are a great team. There is no doubt in my mind that we will be mentioned with those great teams by the end of the season.
The Rockets averaged 109.5 points on 53.6 percent shooting during their winning streak before shooting just 43.1 percent in Tuesday's loss.
