INQUIRER Sports

NEW ORLEANS – Portland spoiled Jeff Bower's debut as head coach of the New Orleans' Hornets, who lost not only the NBA game but also All-Star point guard Chris Paul with a sprained ankle.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 20 points with 13 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who stung the Hornets 86-78.

The defeat came a day after the struggling team sacked coach Byron Scott and installed general manager Bower as coach.

Paul said earlier Friday that he wasn't convinced ditching Scott was the way to ease the woes of a team that has now fallen to 3-7.

"Obviously change needed to occur. I'm not sure that's what should have happened," Paul said. "I'm not sure it was all coach's fault. You can [only] play with the cards you're dealt. It's a tough situation. The team went a different direction. Now we've got to play."

But Paul's night came to a premature end, when he had to be helped from the court by teammates late in the third quarter.

Seconds after he set up Hilton Armstrong's dunk, Paul appeared to land on Joel Przybilla's foot, falling hard to the court.

He twisted the same ankle in a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers earlier in the week.

Paul had been struggling in the game, going 1 of 8 from the field. When he departed the game he had only three points, eight assists and five rebounds.

Brandon Roy added 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Trail Blazers, who their previous four games by double digits.

Andre Miller added 12 points and Przybilla chipped in 10.

"The first half was tough, but our defense kept us in the game," Aldridge said. "In the second half, we picked it up and found our offense, and we were able to pull away."

Darren Collison scored 18 points for the Hornets. Bower said Collinson would be among the players asked to step up if Paul is sidelined for a significant amount of time.

"We'll have Collison, Bobby Brown and Devin Brown available to fully handle the position, and we'll assess the situation as needed and move on," Bower said of Paul's injury. "It’s an opportunity for each one of those men to grow and step forward."