New Orleans 113, Milwaukee 98

NEW ORLEANS, March 21 (UPI) -- Baron Davis had 22 points and nine assists and Jamal Mashburn added 22 points and eight assists Friday night as the New Orleans Hornets coasted to a 113-98 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in the opener of a home-and-home series.

Davis and Mashburn each drilled two three-pointers and came up with three steals as New Orleans remained 1 1/2 games behind Indiana for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Playing his fifth game since returning from left knee surgery, Davis made a driving layup 2:22 into the second quarter to ignite a 19-6 run for the Hornets.

Mashburn converted four straight from the line before feeding George Lynch for a layup with 3:52 to go in the half as the Hornets opened a 56-37 cushion. The Bucks never got the deficit to less than double digits thereafter.

"I thought our defense played really well," said New Orleans Coach Paul Silas. "Mash did a pretty good job on (Sam) Cassell and Baron did the same against (Gary) Payton. It was good to see us back rebounding again."

Michael Redd scored 24 points off the bench for the Bucks, who slipped into a virtual tie with idle Washington for the final playoff berth in the East.

"It just reminds you of the playoffs on a back-to-back like that," Redd said. "You just have to look forward to tomorrow. We have to know that we're going to be on our home court (Saturday) night, so we should be in the driver's seat, like they were tonight."

Despite playing without injured guard David Wesley for a second straight game, the Hornets scored a season-high 70 points in the first half. They totaled a season-best 38 in the second quarter, when they outshot the Bucks, 65 percent to 35 percent.

"The zone didn't work, our offense didn't help," said Milwaukee Coach George Karl. "We turned the ball over, gave them a lot of easy baskets in transition, and the hole was just too big to fight back."