Chris Paul had 26 points and nine assists to lead the New Orleans Hornets past the visiting Phoenix Suns, 100-95, on Wednesday.

Paul connected on 9 of 16 shots and has scored 86 points over the last three games for New Orleans (40-30). Emeka Okafor had 16 points and 11 rebounds while David West notched 16 points and nine rebounds.

Jared Dudley scored 25 points and Vince Carter tallied 21 for Phoenix (33-33), which lost its fourth consecutive contest. Grant Hill added 15 points.

Steve Nash was back in the lineup for the Suns and had eight points and 10 assists in 34-plus minutes. He missed the previous two games with a pelvic injury.

New Orleans used a 9-0 run early in the second quarter to take a 42-32 lead. The lead grew to 19 in the third quarter after Paul’s basket capped an 11-0 run that gave the Hornets a 71-52 lead with 6:56 left in the period.

The Suns got within 95-91 with 21.4 seconds left on Dudley’s fifth 3-pointer of the game but New Orleans held off the charge.