Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Hornets 102, Denver 95

Desmond Mason scored a season-best 26 points in the Hornets' 102-95 win over the Nuggets, who were without their star forward and their leader Wednesday night.
Nuggets coach George Karl was suspended two games without pay for publicly criticizing officials after the Nuggets' loss to New Jersey on Monday night.
Mason and Speedy Claxton (19 points) each had buckets to start the fourth quarter that capped a 9-0 run and put New Orleans ahead 86-77, and the Nuggets never got closer than three after that in losing their second straight game at the Pepsi Center.
Mason said that getting to play 40 minutes allowed him to settle in like he used to with the Bucks.
"I had the opportunity to go and relax and play basketball. The coach gave me quite a few touches, I got going and got into a rhythm," Mason said. "This is the way I'm used to playing. I had a tough start with the team, struggling, couldn't get anything to fall. It feels good to get this game under my belt."