Sacramento, CA (My Sportsbook) - David West scored a game-high 40 points and Rasual Butler drilled a three-pointer as time expired to lift the New Orleans Hornets past the NBA-worst Sacramento Kings, 111-110, at ARCO Arena.

With the score tied at 108, Chris Paul stole the ball from Andres Nocioni with 37 seconds remaining. Paul went racing down the court for a layup, but Francisco Garcia came charging from behind for the block.

After Nocioni got his own rebound off a missed layup, Beno Udrih settled things down. Udrih dribbled to the right and drilled a fadeaway jumper with 1.7 ticks left to put the Kings ahead 110-108.

Following a timeout, Butler came off a screen before taking the inbound pass. An open Butler drained a three-pointer from the top of the arc as time expired.

"Yes it was," Hornets head coach Byron Scott said when asked if the last play was designed for Butler. "I knew everyone would really focus on (Paul). I just tried to make him a decoy and I told Rasual 'your probably going to be wide open so get ready to shoot it.' You just go for the win; we didn't want to play overtime. He got a great look obviously. When I saw it leave his hand I had a good feeling it was going in."

West added nine rebounds and six assists for the Hornets, who have won two in a row after dropping two straight games. Butler added 18 points, while Paul ended with 15 points to go along with as many assists. Julian Wright finished with 14 points.

The Hornets sit in the sixth spot in the Western Conference. They are a half- game behind Portland for fifth and a half-game ahead of Utah. New Orleans is 1 1/2 games behind Houston and San Antonio for first in the Southwest Division.

Nocioni paced Sacramento with 23 points and six boards. Kevin Martin ended with 20 points for the Kings, who have lost three of their past four outings. Spencer Hawes finished with 17 points, while Garcia had 19 points off the bench.

New Orleans ripped off eight unanswered points to start the fourth quarter, taking a 94-90 lead. Paul's 19-foot jumper and layup culminated the run with under 8 1/2 minutes remaining.

Ahead 96-94, the Hornets used a 7-1 flurry to extend their margin to 103-95. Brown's layup topped off the spurt with just over 5 1/2 minutes to play.

Trailing 105-100, McCants drilled a three-pointer to cut the deficit to two with 2:13 left. Nocioni drew an offensive foul from Paul on New Orleans' next trip down the floor.

Garcia hit a long-range deuce to knot the game at 105 with 1:38 remaining. But West's three-point play on the ensuing Hornets possession put New Orleans back in front, 108-105. But once again, Garcia came up big with at trey to tie the game with 1:14 left.

After a back-and-forth three quarters of action, Sacramento took a 90-86 advantage into the final period.

During halftime, Vlade Divac's No. 21 jersey was retired. The Serbian center played six seasons with the Kings and was the emotional leader of the club. The second-leading rebounder in franchise history led the Kings to the 2002 Western Conference finals.

In 16 NBA seasons, Divac recorded 13,398 points and 9,326 rebounds. Divac also spent eight seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers and two with the Charlotte Hornets.

Sacramento also retired Chris Webber's No. 4 jersey this season.

Game Notes

Sacramento went 14-of-24 from three-point land, while New Orleans went 5- of-10...West went 10-of-10 from the charity stripe...The Hornets won the season series with the Kings, 3-1...New Orleans forward James Posey missed the game because of a sprained left elbow.