After an eight-month wait, New Orleans Hornets guard Marco Belinelli heard cheers again Wednesday night at the New Orleans Arena. And it appeared to inspire him and his teammates, as the Hornets dominated the Boston Celtics from start to finish in taking a 97-78 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 17,802.

Because of the 149-day lockout, it was the first significant game played by the Hornets at the arena since they lost Game 6 to the Lakers in the playoffs last April.

With former Hornets All-Stars Chris Paul and David West now playing elsewhere, the new-look Hornets (2-0) are proving they can win without them, relying on their team-first concept that centers around defense.

“It was about our defensive play,’’ Hornets Coach Monty Williams said. “We demand defense, but you have to have guys that understand our defensive plan. Sometimes players are the best coaches.’’

The Hornets stayed in front of the Celtics’ shooters for the entire game, never giving them a chance to get into an offensive rhythm.

The Hornets’ frontcourt of Carl Landry, Emeka Okafor and Chris Kaman challenged nearly shot taken by Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal in the post. The Hornets had 12 blocks against the Celtics, who are 0-3 for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

New Orleans led by 21 points in the second half as the Celtics, who were without injured All-Star forward Paul Pierce, shot 37.2 percent.

The Hornets got their second consecutive victory without having Monday night’s hero, Eric Gordon, who missed the game after suffering a bruised left knee.

Gordon suffered the injury Monday night against the Phoenix Suns in the third quarter when he bumped knees with Grant Hill. He made the winning shot with 4.2 seconds remaining and finished with a team-high 20 points in the Hornets’ 85-84 victory.

New Orleans didn’t need any last-second heroics against the Celtics. The Hornets had things under control, leading by 16 in the first half before taking a 48-39 halftime lead.

The Hornets pounded the aging Celtics inside with Kaman, Landry and Okafor.

“I think we have a number of guys that can play in a pinch,’’ Williams said. “To me, it’s the only kind of depth you can have over the long haul. We just have guys who can play different spots.’’

Landry finished with 20 points. Okafor had 13 and Kaman had 12.

For long stretches, Williams had Okafor and Kaman paired together on the floor. With near flawless execution, the Hornets outscored the Celtics 46-24 in the lane.

“I think this team (New Orleans) is going to play with a chip on their shoulder the entire year,’’ Boston Coach Doc Rivers said. “If I was a player and all I heard that if you lose Chris Paul, it’s the demise of the franchise, it make you try to prove a lot of people wrong.’’

On the perimeter, the Hornets were just as effective. Boston couldn’t slow down guard Jarrett Jack or Belinelli.

Jack returned to the lineup after missing Monday’s game after serving a one-game suspension by the league for a DUI arrest near Atlanta last season. Jack kept the Hornets on attack mode, sending passes inside and to open shooters on the wing. When he wasn’t creating, Jack made eight of 17 shots for a team-high 21 points. The Hornets’ backcourt duo of Jack and Belinelli scored 34 points, with Belinelli finishing with 13.

Belinelli, who started in place of Gordon after playing point guard Monday night, made three of four 3-point attempts.

After making two of 16 3-point attempts against the Suns, the Hornets made four of 12 Wednesday night.

“It is good for us to have Marco in a position where he can play some point guard and can play the two (shooting) guard,’’ Williams said.

John Reid can be reached at jreid@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3407.

Posted: Monday, December 26, 2011, 11:55 PM

Newly acquired shooting guard hits the big shot.

PHOENIX — A glimpse into the New Orleans Hornets’ future Monday night at US Airways Center indicates the fortunes might not be as blurry as many have predicted. Newly acquired shooting guard Eric Gordon calmly made a 20-foot jump shot with 4.2 seconds remaining over the outstretched arms of Jared Dudley as New Orleans stunned the Phoenix Suns 85-84 in the regular-season opener for both teams.

Gordon, who led all scorers with 20 points, took the inbounds pass from forward Trevor Ariza, who had rebounded a Dudley miss on the other end with 15.3 seconds to go. Gordon dribbled the ball to the top of the key with seven seconds to go before launching the winner.

“That was a shot that we needed,” Gordon said. “We were battling back and forth the whole game. All the stuff we’ve been through, the changes in the offseason, I just wanted this game really bad. The play was set up to where I got the ball on the top of the key and then just go one-on-one. I just wanted to finish the play, and I did. Good thing is we won the game, and move on.”

Ariza could have put the Hornets ahead with two free throws with 35.4 seconds to go, trailing 84-83. But he missed both.

After a pair of timeouts, Dudley’s 10-footer with just more than 16 seconds to go rimmed out and Ariza cleared the glass.

“It would have been easier just to make the free throws,” Ariza said, smiling. “But I didn’t. The game works like that some times. You can’t worry about the last play, just move on to the next.”

The Hornets played well defensively all night, limiting Phoenix to 39.5 percent shooting and forcing 15 turnovers, which New Orleans converted into 15 points.

New Orleans managed to come away with the victory despite hitting 13 of 21 free throws and going 2-of-16 from beyond the 3-point line.

Thanks, that is, to Gordon’s stroke.

“He’s going to average 20 on any team you put him on in the NBA,” Suns Coach Alvin Gentry said. “I just think he’s that kind of player. Adding that to the mix, it makes them pretty doggone good.”

Gentry foretold the pace of Monday night’s game before it even started.

“They’re going to play at a slower tempo,” Gentry said. “They played that way even when they had Chris (Paul) last year. They’re a team that wants to drag the possessions out. They utilize the possessions. I think they led the league last year in fewest offensive rebounds given up, fewest total rebounds.

“They’re a team that goes to the board and gets it. They allow one shot, so you’ve got to make sure it’s a good shot. It’s one of those deals where you’ve got to make sure that you’re grinding it out with them. You’ve got to find a way to get easy baskets, which is not easy because their transition is good. They don’t give up very many easy baskets.”

Since Monty Williams arrived as head coach last season, the Hornets have emphasized defense. And never was that more evident than Monday night, especially in the first half.

The Suns committed nine first-half turnovers and the Hornets converted them to 12 points.

New Orleans was using a nice backcourt rotation that featured Gordon and Marco Belinelli swapping out at the two-guard spot, and Belinelli, newly acquired Greivis Vasquez and New Orleans native Carldell “Squeaky” Johnson on the point, all due to the one-game suspension being served by starter Jarrett Jack.

The ball movement was nice offensively, but the quartet was even better defensively.

Vasquez checked into the game for the first time with just less than seven minutes to go in the first quarter, having endured a crash course in the Hornets’ offensive and defensive systems at one practice Sunday night and a shootaround Monday morning.

Williams said he didn’t want to immediately toss Vasquez in as a starter opposite two-time league MVP Steve Nash.

“We don’t mind throwing guys into the fire,” Williams said, smiling. “We just don’t want to do it with gasoline on them. Obviously we want to score points, but we want to get stops. And that was my big deal with Greivis. He has got to understand what we’re doing on defense.

“So we spent a ton of time talking to him about our philosophies and concepts. When you’re playing against a Hall of Famer like Nash, you don’t want to set a guy up for failure. You want him thinking about Nash. I don’t want him thinking about principles, and what he should do in a situation. I think it’s important he’s well prepared. I didn’t want to throw him out there and have him fail.”

The Suns were limited to 33 percent shooting in the first half, hitting 14 of 42 from the field, a figure attributable as much to New Orleans’ defensive intensity as the 149-day lockout that shortened training camp to three weeks.

But Williams managed to get his point across to this new group rather quickly.

“I thought we just stuck with our stuff as far as defending,” Williams said. “Holding a team like that in the 80s, for us, is huge. Different guys stepped up. Eric hit some big shots down the stretch. You just put the ball in his hands and you tell him to go to work.”

Jimmy Smith can be reached at jsmith@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3814.

Posted: Monday, December 26, 2011, 11:47 PM

Hornets win a thriller on the road.

New Orleans Hornets small forward Al-Farouq Aminu said he’s putting more focus toward improving as a defender. Aminu got into foul trouble in Wednesday night’s 95-80 victory against the Memphis Grizzlies, but forced forward Rudy Gay to take several difficult shots early in the game.

Aminu, 21, was acquired by the Hornets from the Los Angeles Clippers last week, along with guard Eric Gordon and center Chris Kaman in exchange for Chris Paul. Making his debut, Aminu scored six points and had four rebounds in 18 minutes despite playing with five fouls.

“I’ve only been practicing for about four days, so I’m still trying to stuff down,’’ Aminu said. “I’m starting to learn my teammates, and it’s coming around smoothly.’’

Aminu is battling with Quincy Pondexter for minutes at the backup small forward spot behind starter Trevor Ariza. Pondexter struggled early,  but finished with 14 points and had 12 rebounds against the Grizzlies.

Hornets Coach Monty Williams gave his players Thursday off after finishing their two-game preseason schedule with consecutive wins against the Grizzlies. New Orleans opens the regular season this Monday against the Phoenix Suns on the road.

Published: Monday, September 26, 2011, 10:37 AM     Updated: Monday, September 26, 2011, 11:30 AM

New Orleans Hornets forward David West will undergo reconstructive knee surgery today to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament, sources said Monday night.

West suffered the injury at Utah on a driving dunk with 22.5 seconds remaining March 24. He’s expected to have to take six to 10 month of rehabilitation before possibly returning.

Coincidently, the Hornets played the Jazz for the first time since the injury on Monday night at the New Orleans Arena.

“You almost forget about it until you watch the film,’’ Hornets Coach Monty Williams said before playing the Jazz. “You remember that’s the game where you lost one of your anchors.

“It’s part of the game, and you hate to see it happen to a guy in his contract year that goes about his business the way David does.’’

In preparation for the Jazz, Williams said his assistants sliced out the portion of the video showing West’s injury.

“We actually took it out because it was so traumatic,’’ Williams said.

Following Monday night’s 90-78 setback, the Hornets are 5-4 without West. Carl Landry replaced West in the lineup, and he was averaging 16.8 points entering play against the Jazz.

PAUL BACK IN BUSINESS: After going scoreless for the first time in his career Sunday at Memphis, New Orleans All-Star point guard Chris Paul made his first shot during the opening two minutes of the game and had eight points in the first quarter. He finished with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting.

“For me, as far as shooting goes, I shoot more than anybody,’’ Paul said. “It will be fine.’’

Williams said he could have put Paul back in the game to score a point against the Grizzlies instead of sitting him out the fourth quarter. But Williams said he didn’t believe they had a chance to win after trailing by a 26-point deficit and thought it would be more beneficial to rest Paul.

“Let’s be real, he played only 28 minutes,’’ Williams said. “I could have got him in the game last night where he could have scored a point, and we wouldn’t have talked about this. So anybody to blame, it’s me.’’

After the game Paul was somewhat surprised about not scoring in a game for the first time in his career.

“It’s the first time for everything, but I thought I didn’t score against Memphis one other time, two years ago,’’ Paul said.

PLAYING FOR SEEDING: With their loss to the Jazz, the Hornets slipped to the eighth seed and could be paired against top-seeded San Antonio in the first round.

The Hornets, who close out the regular season on Wednesday night at Dallas, trail the seventh-seeded Grizzlies by a half-game.

The possibility remains for the Hornets to be matched against the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks or Oklahoma City Thunder if they move up from eighth.

“We haven’t been together long enough to be saying this is who want we want to play or don’t,’’ Paul said. “We just got to continue to play build as team and we’ll deal with who we have to play when we get to it.’’

ON SLIDE: The Hornets(46-35) never led Monday night, trailing by as much as 17 points to the Jazz (37-44).

The Jazz entered in 11th place in the Western Conference and was on a two-game losing streak. The Hornets experienced many of the same problems against the Jazz as they did against the Grizzlies. The Hornets were unable to effectively defend shooters or make shots.

The Jazz shot better than 50 percent for the entire game, finishing at 55.2 percent. New Orleans surrendered 60.3 percent shooting to the Grizzlies.

Offensively against Utah, starting small forward Trevor Ariza missed all four attempts and was held to five points. Power forward Carl Landry missed five of seven shots before scoring five points. Center Emeka Okafor missed seven-of-nine shots and was held to five points, and shooting guard Marco Belinelli missed three of his first four shots before finished with 13.

“Tonight I didn’t see the focus or the tenacity that we played with all year long,’’ Williams said. “I think we have exhaled a bit with the guys on achieving that goal (making playoffs), but now we have to realize we’ve achieved that goal — and we have to get back our swagger.’’

SECOND FEWEST: The Hornets’ 37 points tied for the second fewest first-half points this season.

Their fewest came against Philadelphia in December when they were held to 23 points. The Hornets had 57 points after three quarters against the Jazz, the second fewest scored this season.

REGULAR-SEASON FINALE: Monday night’s game was the regular-season home finale at the Arena.

After 40 games, the Hornets averaged 14,763 per game — with nine sellouts. They finished with a 28-13 record at home.