Again in that race this year, Paul won his second Western Conference player of the week award this season last week when he averaged 24 points and 10 assists in three Hornets wins.

But with a few of his supporting pieces fighting injuries this week, including Peja Stojakovic (missed his fourth straight Thursday), he's seen the other side of that coin in losses to the L.A. Lakers and Orlando.

The NBA leader in assists entering Thursday, Paul was stymied against the Magic and managed just four assists and 12 points in 32 minutes. He also saw his NBA-best 108-game steals streak come to an end.

Meanwhile, his counterpart and reigning Eastern Conference player of the week Jameer Nelson fell below 20 points for the first time in four outings, but had the better game.

Nelson finished with 14 points and was 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.

"This is a game of making shots," Paul said. "We held them to 40 percent shooting, but if we don't make shots then we don't have a chance."

Paul said he isn't surprised that Nelson, who has a year of NBA experience on him, is finding his game. Nor is he stunned that his improvement is paying off in the win column for Orlando.

"He's been doing exactly what that team needs," Paul said.

"And that's keeping other teams honest. With everybody keying on [Hedo] Turkoglu and Dwight [Howard], he's doing what he has to do and being aggressive."

The Hornets came into this season with a lot of street credit after taking the San Antonio Spurs to seven games in the Western semi-finals last year. But Coach Byron Scott said that at 16-9 now, his team is getting a reality check.

"Mentally and physically," Scott said. "We have to understand that against some teams you can come out and mess around. But teams like the Lakers, and now Orlando, you can't come out that way. If we keep coming out that way we'll keep getting our hat handed to us."