NEW ORLEANS (AP) --
It came down to effort. Indiana and Troy Murphy gave their all; the New Orleans Hornets apparently did not.
With the injured Jermaine O'Neal on the bench, Murphy scored 23 points to lead the Pacers to a 105-93 win over New Orleans on Wednesday night.
O'Neal missed the game after tweaking his left knee in Tuesday's loss to the Lakers.
"(Tuesday's loss) was disappointing for us and we had a tough film session before the game," Murphy said. "We wanted to come out and give good energy and good effort."
Jamaal Tinsley added 18 points and 13 assists, while Danny Granger scored 22 points and Mike Dunleavy had 18. Greg Foster grabbed 13 rebounds for the Pacers, who have won two of three after dropping seven of their previous eight games.
Maybe the more important statistic for Tinsley was turnovers. He only had two.
"I didn't even know that I only had two turnovers," Tinsley said. "I was just out there playing. We were getting guys in the paint, getting guys open and making shots."
David West scored 23 points for the Hornets, who played without injured center Tyson Chandler. Peja Stojakovic had a strong first quarter en route to 17 points, while Melvin Ely chipped in 11.
Indiana started pulling away during the third quarter, when it outscored New Orleans 28-17 to build an 82-72 lead.
"The effort wasn't there for whatever reason," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "It's mind boggling to me. I told everybody to make sure they get a tape of this game. Everybody in the arena could see we didn't play hard and they need to see that.
"To me lack of effort is something not coachable. Right now I think they feel like they can just walk in here and win a game and it's not going to happen."
New Orleans (9-4) held the lead for the majority of the first half, but the Hornets went cold from the field in the second quarter, allowing Indiana to take a 40-39 lead on Murphy's two free throws.
Murphy hit two 3-pointers near the end of the half, but Morris Peterson drained a running 3-pointer near halfcourt to give the Hornets a 55-54 lead at halftime.
The Pacers shot 46 percent from the field, while the Hornets ended up making 39 percent of their attempts.
"We stopped penetration, we rebounded the ball and we helped each other out on defense," Tinsley said. "We had the opportunity to get out in transition offense, run it and make shots. It made the game easier."
With Chandler out, Indiana outrebounded the Hornets 51-45.
"We were each down a guy, but we came out and played hard and that's what we needed," Murphy said. "They're a real good rebounding team and without Chandler, we knew we could bang with them."
Chandler missed the game after sustaining a hyperextended right knee in a loss to Orlando on Monday. Hilton Armstrong replaced Chandler, who's listed as day-to-day.
