Chris Paul collected 22 points, seven assists and five rebounds as the visiting New Orleans Hornets escaped with a 106-100 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday.

Carl Landry, starting in place of the injured David West, added 19 points and Jarrett Jack chipped in 17 off the bench for the Hornets (42-31), who stayed two games clear of the eighth-place Memphis Grizzlies (40-33) in the Western Conference. New Orleans remained one-half game behind Portland (42-30) for sixth and 3 1/2 games ahead of Houston (38-34), which holds down the ninth spot.

The Suns (36-35) remained three full games behind the Grizzlies.

Phoenix led 96-93 after Channing Frye hit a 3-pointer with 4:31 left, but New Orleans took over from there, getting four points from Paul during a 9-2 run over the next 3:30 to take a 102-98 advantage with less than a minute to play.

Jared Dudley made it a one-possession game with a pair of free throws, but Emeka Okafor grabbed an offensive rebound and put it in with 25 seconds remaining to put the game away.

Marcin Gortat collected 18 points and 10 rebounds and Grant Hill scored 18 for the Suns.