Hornets Crush Pistons

Wednesday night at the Hive, Chris Paul, Marco Belinelli, David West, and the rest of the Hornets did not look distracted by the ownership issues surrounding the Hornets. Instead, they looked focused in a dominant 93-74 victory.

West scored 25 points, Chris Paul had 14 assists and the Hornets won their first game since the league announced its planned purchase of the club, 93-74 over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.

"We've got an understanding of what the situation is, but we've got to be able to separate that from what we can control and just go out here and play ball," West said. "The best situation for us is to win games and make what this organization is attractive by winning games and move on from there."

West had 23 in the first three quarters as the Hornets built a commanding lead that was never threatened in the final period by Detroit, which has lost six of its past seven and dropped to 2-11 on the road.

Marco Belinelli made four 3-pointers and finished with a season-high 22 points, while Emeka Okafor added 14 points as the Hornets earned only their third win in nine games.

Ben Gordon led Detroit with 16 points in a reserve role, while Rodney Stuckey scored 16 and Richard Hamilton 13.

Jac Sperling, the NBA's appointed caretaker of the Hornets, had reason to be encouraged by the product on the floor as he sat courtside, along the baseline, next to team president Hugh Weber.

The crowd he saw in the stands was less impressive. Announced attendance was 10,823, lowering the Hornets' average to 14,803 for all of last season and 11 home dates this season combined.

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And that's the sad part. Sperling spoke at halftime on the television broadcast about the importance of fan attendance in relation to the NBA's ability to keep the Hornets at home in New Orleans. CST commentator Gil McGregor said as much during pregame. So while attendance  had no effect on the Hornets Wednesday night, it's a troubling trend for a team that continues to to display a high quality of NBA basketball.