Artest, Kings crown Hornets

Feb 6, 2007, 6:10 GMT

Sacramento, CA - Ron Artest had a solid all-around game with 21 points, six rebounds, nine assists and five steals, as the Kings crowned the Hornets, 105-99, for their third consecutive victory.

Mike Bibby contributed 19 points and Kevin Martin 14 for Sacramento, which has also won four in a row at home.

Not only that but the Kings won both of their games without Eric Musselman on the sideline. Musselman was serving the back end of a two-game suspension for driving under the influence, leaving the job to Scott Brooks.

'Ron Artest was really good tonight,' Brooks said. 'He picked and chose a time to take it himself or pass it to a teammate, and he did that tonight.'

Chris Paul had 24 points, six assists and five steals for New Orleans/Oklahoma City, which had a two-game winning streak broken. Desmond Mason ended with 17 points while David West scored 16 for the Hornets.

The Hornets, who trailed by 16 points at the end of the opening quarter, were within 91-90 with 6:38 left in the game after Tyson Chandler's jumper. However, Shareef Abdur-Rahim slammed, and after Chandler missed a jumper, Quincy Douby nailed a three-pointer for the Kings.

The Hornets got within three a few times, the last at 102-99 on two free throws from West with 25.8 seconds remaining. However, Artest hit one free throw, and after Brad Miller blocked a pair of shots for the Kings, Martin sealed the win with another two free throws.

Abdur-Rahim had 12 points, Kenny Thomas 11 and Miller 10 for the Kings.

Devin Brown donated 11 points for the Hornets.

Ten straight points by the Kings moved them to a 40-24 lead after one quarter. Sacramento remained comfortably in front, 63-50 at the half before the Hornets pulled within 87-79 going into the fourth.

'You don't want to give a team 40 points in a quarter, especially for our first game on the road,' Brown said, referring actually to the middle contest of a three-game swing for the Hornets. 'We got it down to one, but it's just hard to be in that situation. We just didn't have it. There's no way we can do that in Denver (Wednesday night).'

Game Notes

The Hornets have lost 14 of their last 15 at Sacramento.

The Kings connected on half of their 16 three-point tries.

© 2007 The Sports Network