Davis scores 29 for Hornets

PHOENIX (AP) -- New Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni wants his team to average 100 points a game. The Suns scored 101 in D'Antoni's debut -- but still lost by 10 to the New Orleans Hornets.

Baron Davis scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter in the Hornets' 111-101 victory Thursday night.

Six Hornets scored in double figures, including all five starters, and New Orleans outrebounded Phoenix 40-25, 12-3 on the offensive boards.

"That's what we do," Davis said. "We rebound and we play physical."

David Wesley scored 14 points, George Lynch and P.J. Brown added 13 apiece, and Jamaal Magloire had 11 points and 14 rebounds.

"We rebounded well as a team, and Baron had an awesome game," Magloire said, "which led to a lot of easy baskets, not only by myself but by other players as well."

The Suns, who fired coach Frank Johnson on Wednesday and elevated D'Antoni from lead assistant, have lost four in a row and seven of eight to fall into last place in the Western Conference for the first time since the 1996-97 season.

"We're in a little bit of a downward spiral," said D'Antoni, whose team is without Amare Stoudemire and rookie Zarko Chabakapa because of injuries. "It's going to take a little while. We don't have a swagger. But you only get that with wins and playing hard."

D'Antoni was pleased with the energy.

"Overall, not bad," he said. "It's a beginning."

Shawn Marion scored a season-high 31 points, 13 in the fourth quarter, for Phoenix. Stephon Marbury added 24, but 14 came in the first quarter and he took just four shots in the last three periods.

"You can't spin a loss," Marbury said. "But we played hard. We gave it everything we had."

New Orleans, with its third straight victory and fifth in six games, led by as many as 16 in the third quarter.

Marion scored the first eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, in a 10-0 run that cut the lead to 98-94 with 3:27 left. But Marbury missed two free throws and Wesley sank a 3-pointer and one of two free throws to boost it to 102-94 with 1:51 left.

D'Antoni started with a small lineup that had Marion at power forward, along with guards Marbury, Penny Hardaway, Joe Johnson.

The Suns scored the first nine points of the game and were up 13-2, but the Hornets used an 8-0 run to tie it at 21. Marbury scored 14 in the period and Phoenix led 30-26 after one.

But led by Davis and Darrell Armstrong, the Hornets finished the first half with a 12-2 run to go up 56-46.

"The key part of the game was that, after we had a horrible start, we had good poise," New Orleans coach Tim Floyd said.

Wesley's 3-pointer capped a 12-3 run that gave New Orleans 76-60 lead with 2:34 left in the third quarter. Phoenix outscored the Hornets 11-3 over the rest of the quarter, capped by Casey Jacobsen's 3-pointer, to cut it to 79-71 entering the fourth.

The run reached 15-3 after Marbury's behind-the-back pass on a Hornets' turnover resulted in Marion's stuff and cut the lead to 79-75 with 11:16 to play.

But Davis sank a 3-pointer to ignite a 5-0 surge that gave New Orleans an 85-75 with 10:04 remaining.

"Baron was terrific," Floyd said. "That was the key part of the game."

Davis' 19-foot jumper put the Hornets up 96-84 with 6:07 left.

Game notes
Davis and Marbury rank in the top three in the NBA in assists and point guard scoring. ... The 1996-97 Suns lost their first 13 games and replaced coach Cotton Fitzsimmons with Danny Ainge. ... Phoenix rookie Leandro Barbosa sat out the game with a bruised sternum. ... Three-year-old Peyton Woolf performed the national anthem. ... Phoenix has lost four straight home games.