West sinks Cavs, 100-99

David West’s 17-foot jumper with 0.6 seconds remaining lifted the Hornets to victory.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Along with countless assists, Chris Paul has given teammate David West a rather unique nickname.

“I call David West the 17-foot assassin,” Paul said.

The Cavaliers now know why.

West calmly dropped a 17-foot jumper — coming on Paul’s 20th and most impressive assist — with 0.6 seconds remaining to give the New Orleans Hornets their fifth straight win, 100-99 over Cleveland Wednesday night.

LeBron James’ driving layup had given ths,Cavaliers a 99-98 lead with 7.7 seconds left before Paul and West, the Hornets’ All-Star duo, teamed up for the game-winner.

With the 6-foot-8 James guarding him up top, Paul, who had just one turnover in 42 minutes, took an inbounds pass and drove left, picking up a screen near the foul line. Paul then drove deep in the lane, drawing three defenders before spinning and whipping a pass back to West.

West then knocked down his shot on the exact play Hornets coach Byron Scott had drawn up during the team’s previous timeout.

“We knew we were going to have a chance to get the ball to Chris Paul and let him create,” Scott said. “We knew we were going to get a good look at it. If we got the shot, we didn’t want to leave a lot of time on the clock. It was .6 when David nailed it.

“It worked to perfection.”

Cleveland got the ball to James, whose 75-foot heave at the horn rattled off the 24-second clock at the other end. James, who barked in frustration at teammates earlier in the fourth quarter, punched his hand in his fist and complained to assistant coach Mike Malone before heading to the locker room.

Following a postgame ice bath, James had cooled down.

“If we get a stop, we win the ball game,” he said. “We played pretty good defense. We bottled him [Paul] up, but with eyes in the back of his head, he found David West.”