OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Byron Scott got to eat at his favorite restaurant, visit with his daughter and take a trip down Memory Lane in the city where his team started heading back in the right direction.

As it turns out, a return to Oklahoma City might have been just what his New Orleans Hornets needed.

David West scored 19 points, Chris Paul added 17 in the city where his NBA career began and the Hornets had a triumphant return to Oklahoma City on Friday night with a 105-80 victory over the Thunder.

The Hornets’ starters received a warm welcome from a sellout crowd, then got to take the fourth quarter off in a dominating defensive performance that stopped a two-game losing skid.

“This is the topping. This is the icing on the cake is to come out and to play as well as we played tonight,” Scott said. “It’s always good to see my daughter, but to come out here and play the way we did tonight was great.

“It makes the flight back home a little less tedious.”

After getting into town a night early, Scott ate at his favorite restaurant and stopped by to see his daughter, who decided to stay in the Oklahoma City area to go to school after the team’s two-year stay ended.

He overshot the visitors’ locker room on his way into the arena and had to backtrack after catching himself heading toward his old office.

That’s about the extent of the problems the team had in its first regular-season game in the Ford Center in 19 months.

Hilton Armstrong had back-to-back dunks and Devin Brown finished a run of nine straight points with a 3-pointer to give New Orleans an early 22-12 lead, and then the Hornets really piled it on.

Rasual Butler had a two-handed slam, and James Posey and Armstrong also had dunks during a 20-2 run that pushed the advantage to 48-24 with 3:15 left before halftime.

Kevin Durant scored 17 points and Nick Collison had 16 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Thunder, who committed a season-high 26 turnovers and shot only 37 percent.

“Early in the season like this, you’re just trying to build your identity. You’re just trying to make sure defense is a constant every night, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Paul said.

“It’s such a long season, but right now is when you start to put your imprint on the season and your team understands what everything’s all about.”

The Hornets spent two seasons playing at the Ford Center after Hurricane Katrina displaced them in August 2005, and Oklahoma City fans fell in love with the team as it rebuilt from an 18-win season to be in contention for the playoffs.

It hasn’t been such a fairy tale for the Thunder so far coming off their own franchise-worst 20-win season. The loss gives them 10 in a row for only the fifth time in franchise history, and it’s only the third time they’ve had that many consecutive defeats in a single season.

Having the Hornets in town only provided a reminder of how a team can go from the bottom to the top in practically no time. The Hornets went from being dreadful the year before they arrived in Oklahoma City to being a playoff team the year after they left.

“I think we have a really good team, a really special team. A few of the guys from when we were here, but we’re a championship-caliber team when we put our mind to it,” Paul said.