Bosh leads Raptors' win over Hornets
Last Updated: Saturday, November 7, 2009 | 12:27 AM ET
The Associated Press
Chris Bosh scored 27 points and the Toronto Raptors used a 27-4 run in the third quarter to take control of a 107-90 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.
The Raptors trailed 56-51 before hitting a barrage of open three-pointers to put the game away.
Bosh's three made it 57-56, giving the Raptors the lead for good. Hedo Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani both hit three threes in the next seven minutes as Toronto went ahead 81-63.
Turkoglu and Jose Calderon both had 16 points for Toronto, while Bargnani added 14.
"We are feeling more comfortable with each other each game," said Turkoglu, in his first year with the Raptors after helping Orlando reach the NBA finals last season.
Chris Paul led New Orleans with 21 points and a season-high 18 assists, while Bobby Brown added 16 points and David West had 14.
"Our focus tonight was on Paul," Toronto coach Jay Triano said. "Any time he gave it up for the most part our guys had a hand in his face. He had to work for everything he got."
The Hornets (2-4), who are below .500 after six games for the first time since 2005-06, trailed 83-65 at the end of the third quarter and heard some boos as they walked to the bench.
The Hornets started the second half with a three-pointer from Morris Peterson and a dunk by Emeka Okafor to go ahead 56-51, but it was all downhill from there.
Bosh hit all nine of his shots, mostly from inside, and the Raptors were almost as proficient from the three-point line in the second half. After connecting on only 3-of-11 threes in the first half, they made 11-of-18 after the break.
Toronto led 83-65 after its 34-point third quarter and stretched the lead to 98-73 as the Hornets never made a run.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the New Orleans Arena was more than half-empty.
Neither team led by more than seven points before Toronto's decisive spurt.
