Jazz coach Jerry Sloan figured out a defense to stop Chris Paul and Utah defeated the Hornets 77-66 on Tuesday before another sellout at the Hive. The Hornets were seeking their 55th win of the season.
Paul missed all five shot he took in the first half and wound up with two field goals in ll attempts. He played only 33 minutes.
"We knew he wants to get down the lane and make things happen, look for his own teammates,: said Paul's good friend and Jazz point guard Deron Williams. "We went under on the pick and -roll a lot, tried to make him be off," explained Williams.
In his two previous two games, Paul had posted a triple-double against GoldenState and 15 assists against New York. His four points on Tuesday were his second-fewest of the season and 17 below his scoring average.
Make no mistake, though, the Jazz couldn't have enjoyed their Northwest Division-clinching victory any more. Challenged by Sloan before the game, the Jazz drilled the Hornets at home.
"I told our team we don't want to back into it and have somebody give it to us," said Sloan. "You've go to go out and play and I thought we did play well."
Before the season began, Hornets coach Byron Scott told the team he predicted the Hornets would win 55 games and possibly as many as 60.
The Hornets (54-23) are 9 1/2 point favorites over the lackluster Timberwolves (19-58) on Wednesday night at Minneapolis. The Wolves have lost five in a row.
Although the Hornets averaged 49.3 points in the lane in the past three games, they were outscored 38-30 by the Jazz. Tyson Chandler, one of the Bees' top inside shooters, took only one three-point shot and scored only 3 points.
The Hornets were looking to follow the lead of Paul, which wasn't there, but no one else showed up for this game, except 17,779 fans.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan figured out a defense to stop Chris Paul and 
