"I'm very pleased with where we are now," Scott said. "Last season everything, the planets, the stars, everything, aligned in a good way. With the injuries we've had and the heightened expectations, to be just a couple of games behind is pretty good."

Hornets starters have missed 17 games because of injuries this season, four more than they missed all of last season.

Scott said he's most satisfied with the way his team has played defensively, but he would like to see the team run with more consistency and have better ball movement on offense.

"Our focus will be on the offensive end, but we've got to continue to get better on both ends," Scott said. "We've got to get healthy and try to make a big run after the All-Star Break."

The Hornets (27-14) were the last team to reach the halfway point of the season. Last season they won a franchise-record 56 games. They play host to the Nuggets on Wednesday.

HORNETS 101, 76ERS 86: Chris Paul had his league-leading fifth triple-double of the season, and the Hornets outscored the 76ers, 61-39, in the second half Monday night to win for the 12th time in their last 14 home games.

The Hornets, who gave up 52 points in the paint in a loss at Minnesota on Friday, gave up 56 to the Sixers but overcame that by making 12 more 3-pointers (14-2), seven more free throws (19-12), and committing six fewer turnovers (15-21).

Paul had game-highs of 27 points and 15 assists and a team-high 10 rebounds, falling three steals shy of a quadruple-double. He made 7 of 13 field goals, 1 of 3 3-pointers and all 12 of his free throws.

Paul downplayed the stat line, saying, "Yeah, but I almost had 10 turnovers too," even though he had just four.

He moved into second place on the Hornets' career-assists list with 2,561, passing Baron Davis to trail only Mugsey Bogues (5,557).