NEW ORLEANS - Peja Stojakovic scored 23 points, leading six Hornets in double figures, and New Orleans easily defeated the Seattle SuperSonics 123-92 on Wednesday night.

Tyson Chandler had 14 points and 21 rebounds and Chris Paul had 12 points and 11 assists. It was the 12th time they've had double-doubles in the same game this season, and New Orleans has won all of those games.

AP

New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul (3) is fouled by Seattle SuperSonics guard Luke Ridnour, center, in the second half. New Orleans Hornets forward Peja Stojakovic, right, of Serbia, is trying to block Ridnour.

David West also hit double digits in two columns with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Kevin Durant led Seattle with 20 points, while Earl Watson added 17 and 11 assists for the Sonics, who've lost three straight and 10 of 11 games. Seattle was simply overmatched in falling 20 games below .500 (9-29).

New Orleans (26-12), which has won three straight and nine of 11 games to keep pace with the leaders in the Western Conference, hit 12 3-pointers as a team, four by Stojakovic.

Reserve guard Bobby Jackson hit three 3s, making him 10-of-11 from that distance in his last two home games. He finished with 13 points and fellow reserve guard Jannero Pargo scored 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting with three 3s of his own.

New Orleans' reserves, playing most of the fourth quarter, finished with 52 points.

The Hornets dominated most categories, outrebounding Seattle 53-41 and outshooting the Sonics 51.6 percent to 43 percent. The Hornets had a 52-42 advantage on points inside and their 13 offensive rebounds helped produce a 20-9 margin on second-chance points.

Wally Szczerbiak had 14 points and Kurt Thomas 12 for Seattle, but the Sonics fell behind by too much, too early, to climb back into the game.

Seattle opened the second half on an 11-2 run, capped by Durant's fast-break dunk and Watson's fast-break layup as he was fouled. But that only trimmed the score to 67-57.

Nick Collison's baseline jumper briefly got Seattle as close as 69-61. Then Paul hit a driving layup, Stojakovic nailed a 3 and Chandler scored on an inside feed from Paul to swing the momentum back New Orleans' way.

New Orleans then closed the third quarter on a 7-0 run highlighted by Stojakovic's 3 and Chandler's alley-oop dunk of Paul's lob to go ahead 95-75 heading into the final period.

New Orleans used swarming defense and strong rebounding to take a 14-point lead in the first quarter. The Sonics shot only 27.3 percent for the period, while Chandler had 10 rebounds for the Hornets during that span.

In the second quarter, Stojakovic made a 3 pointer and all seven of his free throws, and the Hornets jumped out to a 21-point lead on Paul's floater in the lane with about a minute left in the second quarter.

Thomas' free throws made it 65-46 at halftime.