Top pick Davis bounces back to lead Hornets over weary Blazers

New Orleans Hornets rookie Anthony Davis scored 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to pace the home team to a 99-63 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. The 36-point win was the largest of the season for the Hornets, who improved to 19-34 but won four of five before the All Star break.

Portland (25-28), meanwhile, hits the midseason break losing five of six, all on the road.

The Hornets were buoyed by their bench, which outscored Portland's 45-32, including 14 points from sixth man Ryan Anderson and another 13 from Jason Smith.

For all intents and purposes, the game was in New Orleans' control from the outset and was all but finished in the first four minutes of the second quarter. The Hornets trailed for only 1:07 before Greivis Vasquez tied it at 2-2 with a driving layup. The game was tied again at 4-4 and then New Orleans took over, slowly building a five-point lead by the end of the first quarter and a 12-point lead by halftime. Once Darius Millerdrained a 3-pointer with 8:06 to go in the first half, the Hornets never led by fewer than 10 points the rest of the game.

New Orleans held Portland to just 32.4 percent shooting and outscored the Trail Blazers by 26 in the paint. Portland's Damian Lillard, in the running for rookie of the year, was held to only 12 points on 4-for-15 shooting.