A team strolled around the United Center floor Tuesday night with its collective chests puffed, a quiet confidence that it could overcome deficits to pull away and win at any time.
In recent seasons, that team used to be the Bulls, something Tyson Chandler knows well from his 2004-05 effort here. Now Chandler is on a New Orleans Hornets team that carries itself with that certain winning aura.
New Orleans indeed pulled away late — and within a half-game of Phoenix for the Western Conference’s best mark — to post a 100-86 victory that sent the Bulls to a season-low 11 games below .500.
“The second half, we seemed to be in mud,” coach Jim Boylan said. “Then we missed some big shots and turnovers really hurt us. Chris Paul’s an All-Star and he showed it. That’s one of the better performances I’ve seen this year as far as controlling tempo and the game.”
Chandler, who received a mixture of boos and cheers during player introductions, finished with 16 rebounds and only four points. But his authoritative slam off an alley-oop from Paul gave the Hornets an 83-80 lead and started the game-winning run.
Thabo Sefolosha pulled the Bulls within 83-82. That’s when Paul, who had 25 points and 14 assists, buried a 30-foot heave at the shot-clock buzzer over Kirk Hinrich for a four-point Hornets edge. Hinrich came off the bench after a three-game absence to score 15 points.
After the teams traded scores, Chandler rebounded a Paul miss and fed Rasual Butler for a 90-84 lead. Paul then stripped Hinrich and threw a behind-the-back pass to David West for a fast-break dunk and a cue for the sellout crowd to start streaming out.
West and Peja Stojakovic each scored 27 to lead the Hornets, who closed with a 19-6 run and are 18-7 on the road.
“It’s unbelievable,” Chandler said. “We have a lot of very good players. And it’s not about any individual achievements as long as the team wins. That’s obvious out there.”
It’s equally obvious the Bulls, who were booed off the court, continue to hurt themselves with turnovers, 17 in this game.
The Bulls actually led 50-43 at halftime with Andres Nocioni scoring 17 of his game-high 28 points and Hinrich adding 13. Those two players combined to score 22 of the Bulls’ 27 first-quarter points.
Neither player was on the floor, however, when the Bulls grabbed some developmental minutes while staying afloat during the second quarter.
A lineup of Joakim Noah, Aaron Gray, Tyrus Thomas, Sefolosha and Chris Duhon extended a 31-28 led to 40-34 in the 4:56 they played together.
The Hornets righted themselves in the third, going on a 21-7 run to seize a 68-62 lead with Stojakovic scoring 13 and Paul adding six.
But the Bulls pulled even at 74-74 early in the fourth riding a similarly youth-based lineup of Sefolosha, Noah, Gray, Duhon and Nocioni.
Thomas logged only eight minutes and didn’t play the entire second half. The Hornets did.
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kcjohnson@tribune.com
