Wounded warrior

Davis overcomes knee injury to lead Hornets to win

Baron Davis' knee didn't stop him from scoring a game-high 28 points. AP

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The New Orleans Hornets didn't need Jamal Mashburn to claw back into their first-round playoff series. A hobbled Baron Davis turned out to be more than enough.

Davis, wearing a thick blue sleeve over his strained and bruised left knee, scored 28 points on everything from 3-pointers to slicing drives to floaters, leading the Hornets to a 99-85 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night.

"There's still some things I can't do, but I was making some quick moves," Davis said. "If I can get out and play and be active like I was tonight then I'm happy."

The victory pulled the Hornets to 2-1 in the series, with Game 4 coming up Monday night.

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Jamaal Magloire and P.J. Brown followed through on their promise to be more of a force inside. Magloire had 18 points and nine rebounds, while Brown had 17 points and 12 rebounds. Jerome Moiso, seeing his first career postseason action, scored 10 points -- all in the fourth quarter as the Hornets pulled away.

Allen Iverson led the Sixers with 28 points, but he had only eight in the second half when he wasn't much of a factor. Keith Van Horn, Kenny Thomas and Derrick Coleman each added 12 for Philadelphia.

"This is a series now," Philadelphia coach Larry Brown said. "The crowd was phenomenal, their effort was great. (Hornets coach Paul Silas) had them ready to play. I didn't have our guys ready to play. We didn't play well as a team."

Iverson said the outcome had more to do with effort than strategy.

"You can talk about the Xs and Os all you want. Tonight they just wanted it more than us," Iverson said. "They beat us to loose balls and got 21 offensive rebounds and that's unheard of."

Mashburn, the Hornets' leading scorer and lone All-Star this season, dislocated and chipped a bone in his right middle finger during Wednesday's 90-85 loss in Philadelphia. He has not said when he thinks he can return.

"Those guys, down 2-0, they've got an All-Star player sitting there in street clothes. The love of the game just came out for those guys," Iverson said. "They just showed a lot of heart and a lot of character by being able to just fight and win the game."

Davis reaggravated a left knee injury when he landed awkwardly after a layup in Game 1 in Philadelphia, then sat out Game 2.

Davis refrained from soaring layups or dunk attempts in the game, but he seemed nimble as ever on the dribble drive, routinely creating scoring opportunities for both himself and teammates.

"My mode was to attack and get my teammates into attack mode," Davis said. "Early on I was looking to get everybody touches and open shots and told everybody, 'When you get the ball, shoot it. We need everybody to score tonight.' And everybody did a good job of taking big shots and knocking down big shots."

Silas let Davis play 40 minutes, about 10 more than he had planned.

"I'm sure he feels it a little bit ... but he wanted to play because this was a do-or-die game for us and certainly he had to lead the charge," Silas said.

New Orleans also was far more assertive on the boards, where the Hornets were beaten by Philadelphia in Game 2. Brown finished with seven offensive rebounds, compared to six for the Sixers.

New Orleans ended up with 12 offensive rebounds in the first half alone, allowing them to take a 47-46 lead into halftime despite shooting only 36 percent.

"I hadn't had a very good series and I just took the tape home and focused on what I did well and badly and tried to learn from it," Brown said. "I just felt we knew we had to play our best game of the year."

Aaron McKie's first points of the game put Philadelphia up 63-62, but that would be the Sixers' last lead as Kenny Anderson responded with a double-pump shot as he got shut off and fouled on a baseline drive.

Davis then hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter, the second giving New Orleans an 82-71 lead and prompting Davis, bad knee and all, to leap with his hands in the air as the crowd went wild.

Notes: New Orleans is known as a last-minute town, and tickets were available for the first ever NBA playoff game here right up to tipoff. The game ultimately was announced as a standing-room-only sellout of 17,320. ... New Orleans fans had mostly cheered Iverson during the Sixers' regular season visit, prompting coach Larry Brown to say they seemed to open their hearts to him. They weren't as gracious with Philadelphia returning as a playoff foe. Iverson was roundly booed when he came out for warmups and when he checked into the game. The crowd also erupted when Iverson was called for a technical after arguing a non call when he missed a reverse layup.

 

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