- NOH 117, DEN 93

The New Orleans Hornets kept their hot streak alive with a dominating win over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. Chris Paul led the Hornets with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 17 assists, while Allen Iverson starred for the Nuggets with 23 points and 3 dimes. New Orleans shot 50% from the field and outrebounded Denver by nineteen. Tyson Chandler added 10 points and 16 rebounds for the Hornets, who took sole possession of first place in Western Conference with the victory.

Game FIC Scores
Chris Paul, NOH ? 29.0
Tyson Chandler, NOH ? 23.0
Melvin Ely, NOH ? 13.8
Kenyon Martin, DEN ? 13.6

- DAL 103, MEM 84

Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki led the Dallas Mavericks to an impressive victory over the Memphis Grizzles last night at the FedEx Forum. Howard posted 26 points and 6 rebounds, and Nowitzki added 20 points and 11 boards of his own. Dallas shot 53% from the field against just 41% for Memphis. Rudy Gay led the Grizzles with 18 points and 4 rebounds, and Kyle Lowry added 17 points and 5 boards in defeat. The Mavericks outrebounded the Grizzles by fourteen, thanks in large part to Erick Dampier?s 12 rebounds.

Game FIC Scores
Josh Howard, DAL ? 19.6
Dirk Nowitzki, DAL ? 16.5
Erick Dampier, DAL ? 13.8
Kyle Lowry, MEM ? 11.3

- UTA 97, SAS 91

The Utah Jazz won a close game over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, thanks to 23 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists from Carlos Boozer. Utah shot 50% from the field against San Antonio?s usually stifling defense, but the Spurs held a distinct advantage at the foul line, which kept the game close throughout. Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 26 points and 11 rebounds, and Manu Ginobili added 29 points in the loss. Andrei Kirilenko added 25 points and 5 boards, and Deron Williams tallied 11 points and 14 assists for the Jazz in the victory.

Game FIC Scores
Andrei Kirilenko, UTA ? 20.3
Carlos Boozer, UTA ? 19.8
Deron Williams, UTA ? 18.3
Tim Duncan, SAS ? 15.8

- CHA 107, LAC 100

Gerald Wallace led the Charlotte Bobcats to a win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night, with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Charlotte shot 57% for the game, and the Clippers made 55% of their shots. Tim Thomas led the Clippers with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists in defeat. Los Angeles played without Corey Maggette and potential all-star Chris Kaman. Jason Richardson added 20 points, and Emeka Okafor tallied 14 points and 9 rebounds for the Bobcats. Charlotte recorded an assist on 33 of their 38 made field goals in the game.

Game FIC Scores
Gerald Wallace, CHA ? 23.8
Tim Thomas, LAC ? 22.0
Raymond Felton, CHA ? 13.5
Emeka Okafor, CHA ? 13.0

? RealGM calculates the Floor Impact Counter using the following formula: (Points + .75 Defensive Rebounds + Offensive Rebounds + Steals + Assists + Blocks - .75 Field Goal Attempts - .375 Free Throw Attempts - Turnovers - .5 Personal Fouls)

( )'s indicate a negative FIC score.

It is also used to rank players and to determine their `Reina Value.'
Click here to view the player rankings with the Reina Value for the current season

According to the Denver Post, George Karl called the Hornets' Tyson Chandler "a young Marcus", in reference to defensive stud Marcus Camby, and said that the Nuggets were "very interested" in trading for Tyson Chandler, then with Chicago, in the summer of 2006.

"This is a young Marcus (Camby) who can get 20 rebounds," Karl said of the Hornets center. "There's about 90 percent of big guys in the NBA who you could lock in a gym all night long and they couldn't get 20 rebounds."

Chicago traded Chandler to New Orleans instead, receiving P.J. Brown ? as well as J.R. Smith, who the Bulls shipped to Denver for Howard Eisley and two second-round picks.

Having the hottest team in the NBA today is not enough for the Hornets fans.

During the first half of Monday night's game between New Orleans and Denver, the crowd booed ex-Hornet J.R. Smith every time he touched the ball.

Smith, while talented, acted immature and seldom spoke with Coach Byron Scott in his two seasons with the Hornets.

"I always stood by that ? talent was never the question," Scott said. "He has tremendous athleticism and tremendous shooting range. That was never a question."

After a huge blowout win in San Antonio, the rapidly emerging New Orleans Hornets have jumped into the saddle of the top spot in the RealGM Team Rankings.

Shockingly, their ascent from the number eight spot in last week?s rankings was not the greatest leap over the past seven days. The biggest rise in the rankings this week goes to the recently reloaded Sacramento Kings (up from No. 25 to No. 17), while the biggest drop belongs to the struggling New Jersey Nets (No. 19 to No. 25), who dropped six spots this week.

Click 'Read' to view the full rankings.

The New Orleans Hornets have replaced the Boston Celtics as the top ranked NBA team on ESPN's power rankings list, ESPN's Marc Stein is reporting.

The Hornets, who are 11-1 in 2008, have won six straight by at least 14 points, making them the most dominant team in the NBA right now.

Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com has reported that former New Orleans Hornets forward Chris Andersen plans to apply for reinstatement into the NBA when he becomes eligible to do so on Sunday.

The process will be lengthy, but Andersen could very well return to the court before the end of the season.

Hornets' owner George Shinn said Wednesday he is optimistic his club can meet the attendance goal to continue its relationship with New Orleans long term.

The Hornets and state of Louisiana agreed to extend the team's lease until 2014 if the club can attract 14,735 fans per game for the final four months of this season and all of the 2008-09 season. The Hornets are 29th in the league in attendance, averaging 12,341.

If the Hornets don't meet the attendance goal, they can opt out of their lease in 2009 for a penalty that could reach $100 million. Shinn, who spoke before Wednesday's Hornets-Sonics' game, doesn't believe it will reach that point.

"The numbers aren't that high," he said. "The threshold is just 14,735 and that's not a real high number, that's right at the bottom of the NBA, so we didn't put a number in there that's ridiculous."

"We started from scratch. We're still close to the bottom for the simple reason that we didn't have a (fan) base. Everybody else had their base from the year before to draw from. Next year we'll have a base. It's going to be hard, very, very difficult for us not to pass that number. I think it's going to happen."

Glen Rice, retired Miami Heat player, was arrested early Friday morning following an altercation at his estranged wife's Coral Gables home.

He was charged with felony battery.

According to the police report, Rice arrived at the house where his wife lives, demanding to know what man she was with and what he was doing at his house.

He found the victim Alberto Perez in the master bedroom closet and began beating him, police say, while screaming obscenities at him.

The management of the New Orleans Arena said the Hornets have reached an agreement with the state on a two-year lease extension to keep them in the state-owned arena through 2014.

A news release Wednesday from the arena said the extension essentially makes up for the time the team spent when it relocated to Oklahoma City following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The extended lease agreement includes specific benchmarks. For instance, it provides that the Hornets can opt out of the agreement if the team fails to draw an average attendance of 14,735 at the end of the 2008-09 season.

New Orleans Hornets' forward David West, the team's second-leading scorer, missed a game for the first time this season Saturday night against the Phoenix Suns because of a bruised left hip.

West, averaging 19.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in 33 games, was injured Friday night during the Hornets' 116-104 victory at Golden State, when he collided with the Warriors' Stephen Jackson.