NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) -- Young playmaker Chris Paul and Serbian veteran Peja Stojakovic have put some sting in the New Orleans Hornets, whose unlikely run to success has the National Basketball Association buzzing.

As the season resumed on Tuesday after the NBA All-Star Game, such star-powered Western Conference teams as the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns are chasing the Hornets, who lead the West at 36-15.
“Right now we are playing some of our best basketball but the real test will be how we do after the All-Star break,” Paul said. “This season has been a success but we still have a lot of stuff to do.”
The Suns have made a deal for Shaquille O'Neal. The Lakers brought Spanish star Pau Gasol to play alongside Kobe Bryant. The Mavericks are trying to land guard Jason Kidd and the reigning champion Spurs signed guard Damon Stoudamire.
But the Hornets, playing their first full season back in a city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, are sticking with the lineup that has made them the third-best team in the NBA behind only Boston and Detroit.
“I know a lot of people aren't giving us much of a chance to be in the NBA Finals but we're going to see what we can do. When it's all said and done we feel we will have something to do with it,” Hornets coach Byron Scott said.
“We haven't gone out and made any moves like some teams have. We feel pretty good about our team.”
But the Hornets have made themselves a target for their rejuvenated rivals.
“The future is going to be tougher. We've got to get ready to respond,” said Stojakovic.
“We must stay focused, stay consistent, get even better because we know the teams are going to come after us. We have one of the best records in the league and you have to meet the challenge. You have got to respond.”
The Hornets, who moved here from Charlotte in 2002, have never gone past the second round of the playoffs in 20 NBA seasons and they haven't had a winning record in the past four seasons as they rebuilt with younger talent.
“It's a young team yet we've won most of the close games we've played. That says a lot about our leadership,” Stojakovic said. “We're learning each other's game. How fast we meshed and got comfortable with each other is really surprising.”
Paul, a 22-year-old point guard, leads the Hornets with 20.5 points, 10.9 assists and 2.6 steals a game while David West averages 19.8 points and 9.2 rebounds and Tyson Chandler adds 12.1 points and 12.5 rebounds a game.
Experience comes from 30-year-old sharpshooter Stojakovic, who averages 16.3 points. He has made 139-of-291 shots (47.8 percent) from 3-point range and is the team's most accurate free throw shooter, hitting 67-of-72 from the line.
“He has shown the last four or five weeks that he is on a major roll,” said Hornets coach Byron Scott. “He feels really good about the way he's playing. He has a lot of confidence and players have a lot of confidence in him.”
Stojakovic, among 77 non-US NBA players from 30 nations, missed most of last season with back surgery but has returned with a vengeance.
“I'm getting my confidence back and my legs under me,” Stojakovic said.
The Hornets have struggled to lure fans with the second-worst NBA attendance at 12,645 a game and next year could leave this city, which already lost the NBA Jazz to Utah in 1979.
Keeping a winning team that bring an estimated 164 million dollars to the city economy is important but priorities of rebuilding and luring back people to New Orleans are more vital these days - even for players.
“Because of the disaster of Katrina, things that have come after that, you can jump in and help out. People need help,” said Hornets standout West, who has raised his scoring and rebound averages in each of his five NBA seasons.