Memphis at New Orleans

[Real Deal]

TIME: 8:00 PM ET

TV: NBALP

[Real Deal]

NEW ORLEANS -- As animated as Quincy Pondexter was on a night when he couldn't miss, it looked as though he wanted the team that traded him away to notice how well he's doing these days.

 

Pondexter denied it, to which teammate Rudy Gay said, "I don't believe him at all."

 

Gay tied a season-high with 28 points, Pondexter matched his season-high with 16, and the Memphis Grizzlies maintained their NBA-best winning percentage with their second-straight victory, 96-89 over the struggling New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.

 

Pondexter hit all six of his shots, including four 3-pointers.

 

"I didn't look at it as I'm playing against my old team," Pondexter said. "I looked at it as we needed a win and I'm really glad our guys pulled it off tonight. It wasn't I was extra assertive or anything tonight. I was just making the right basketball plays."

 

New Orleans put up resistance, despite losing for the 11th time in 13 games, and Memphis needed Gay's 3-pointer with 2:10 left to get some breathing room.

 

"We just toughed it out," Gay said. "This is one of those games that a young team probably wouldn't win, but the fact that we've been around and know how it is, the fact that this is the NBA and everybody has a chance to win, that's what got us over the hump."

 

Zach Randolph added 15 points and Marc Gasol 13 for the Grizzlies, who improved to 14-3 (.824). Pondexter, the Hornets' first-round draft choice in 2010 who was traded for Greivis Vasquez shortly before last season, appeared to be engaging in a measure of trash talk as he made his way down the court followed each basket.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20121207_MEM@NO