CLEVELAND — LeBron James made an MVP-like play that could have won the game, but Chris Paul made the one that did.
The New Orleans point guard penetrated and kicked the ball out to David West for a 17-footer with 0.6 seconds on the clock Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, propelling the Hornets to a thrilling 100-99 victory over the Cavaliers.
“Chris Paul is an amazing talent,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “His shot wasn’t going down tonight, but he still found a way to impact the basketball game. You’ve got to give him credit. The basketball was in his hands the whole game.”
Paul, one of the top MVP candidates in the league along with James and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, finished with 15 points, 20 assists and just one turnover as the Hornets (49-21) stayed atop the Western Conference and ended a nine-game winning streak at The Q for the Cavaliers (40-32).
“That’s why he’s the best point guard in the league,” James said. “He gives them a confidence they didn’t have before.”
James does the same thing for the Cavaliers, and he delivered down the stretch as well. With Cleveland down 98-97, the 6-foot-8, 250-pounder dribbled to his right and got around Peja Stojakovic, then veered left and hit a left-handed layup to put the Cavaliers up one with 7.7 seconds left.
On New Orleans’ final possession, however, James was picked by West, with Cleveland’s Joe Smith coming over to help out against Paul. The lightning-quick point guard got deep into the lane, then spun and tossed the ball out to West, who hit the winner.
“We bottled him up, but with eyes in the back of his head, he found David West,” James said. “We just couldn’t get a stop.”
There were still 0.6 seconds on the clock, but the Cavaliers were out of timeouts and could manage only a 75-foot heave by James that bounced off the shot clock.
The Cavaliers had wanted to make the 6-foot Paul beat them with a shot instead of a pass on the Hornets’ final possession, but Smith felt like he had to help out James when West set a high screen. No one rotated in time to pick up the New Orleans power forward, however, and Paul found him.
“Our game plan discipline was not good,” Brown said. “It cost us down the stretch.”
The Cavaliers, who had a chance to clinch a playoff berth, got a monster game from center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who had a season-high 29 points on 13-of-19 shooting and pulled down 15 rebounds while keeping his team in the thick of things all night.
Anderson Varejao added 11 points and 15 boards as the Ben Wallace-less Cavaliers dominated the glass 48-33, but they couldn’t find a way to win on a night when James had, for him, a rather pedestrian game.
The small forward finished with 21 points, three rebounds and eight assists, but didn’t attempt a shot for the first 11 minutes of the final quarter. He had four points in the period, with two coming at the line after he was spared a turnover when the Hornets were called for a very questionable foul.
Following the game, a disappointed James, who attempted just 14 shots, kept the media waiting much longer than usual after getting one-upped by Paul, one of his closest friends.
“I kind of wear my emotions on my chest and on my face,” James said. “We could have controlled some things that went wrong.”
With Paul repeatedly breaking down Delonte West and finding open teammates — James took on the defensive assignment for most of the fourth quarter – Stojakovic overcame an 0-of-6 start to finish with 25 points. He made eight of his last 10 shots and finished the night 6-of-9 from behind the arc. West added 20 points, while Tyson Chandler had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Jannero Pargo added 13 points off the bench.
The key to everything, however, was Paul, who had all but seven of his team’s 27 assists. His assist total was one off his NBA season high.
“He’s such a crafty guy,” Cleveland’s Smith said. “He attacked and found the open guy. He got in the paint and made the defense collapse.
“He pretty much finds everybody. Twenty assists proves that.”
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.
Hornets 100, Cavs 99
NEW ORLEANS (100): Stojakovic 8-16 3-3 25, Da.West 7-19 6-6 20, Chandler 5-7 3-4 13, Paul 5-17 4-4 15, Peterson 2-4 0-0 5, Wells 3-5 0-0 6, Andersen 1-1 1-1 3, Pargo 4-11 2-2 13, Wright 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 35-80 19-22 100.
CLEVELAND (99): L.James 6-14 8-10 21, Varejao 5-7 1-2 11, Ilgauskas 13-19 3-3 29, De.West 2-6 0-0 4, Pavlovic 5-10 0-1 10, Smith 3-7 0-2 6, Da.Jones 3-7 0-0 9, Szczerbiak 1-5 0-0 2, Brown 3-7 0-0 7. Totals 41-82 12-18 99.
New Orleans    25 31 17 27—100
Cleveland        23 27 21 28— 99
3-Point Goals—New Orleans 11-22 (Stojakovic 6-9, Pargo 3-5, Peterson 1-3, Paul 1-4, Wells 0-1), Cleveland 5-17 (Da.Jones 3-7, L.James 1-2, Brown 1-3, Pavlovic 0-1, Szczerbiak 0-2, De.West 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—New Orleans 41 (Chandler 11), Cleveland 54 (Ilgauskas, Varejao 15). Assists—New Orleans 27 (Paul 20), Cleveland 23 (L.James 8). Total Fouls—New Orleans 17, Cleveland 21. Technicals—New Orleans defensive three second 2. A—20,562 (20,562).

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