New Orleans (10-4) at Miami (3-11)

With star forward Jamal Mashburn out with a knee injury until early January and a new coach in Tim Floyd to adjust to, not much was expected of the New Orleans Hornets in the early going.

However, with Floyd stressing his style that focuses on defense and scoring in transition, and star guard Baron Davis picking up the slack for Mashburn, the Hornets are battling for the Central Division lead.

The Hornets go for their sixth win in seven games as they take on the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena.

Davis lifted New Orleans to an 81-80 victory over Detroit on Sunday, as his dunk with one second to play gave the Hornets the win and lifted them into second place in the Central Division.

Davis is among the league leaders in scoring, assists, 3-pointers and steals.

“Mash is going to come in and he’s going to be our scorer. We’re going to look to him to do what he does best,” Davis said. “I’m still going to do my part and lead this team, but it’s not about the numbers, it’s about the victories. That’s all I care about.”

Davis’ dunk Sunday came after Chauncey Billups, a 92 percent foul shooter, missed two free throws with seven seconds left that would have put the Pistons ahead by three. Davis then took a pass from P.J. Brown, went past Ben Wallace and dunked over Bob Sura for the win.

“When I came off the pick, I saw Ben leaning and I knew I had to get to the hole,” Davis said. “There were no jumpers being shot—I was missing those all night. I had to get to the hole.”

Davis had 18 points, but was just 7-for-22 from the field. Jamaal Magloire led New Orleans with 20 points and 15 rebounds.

Miami returns home after dropping four of five on a West Coast trip. The Heat are coming off a 100-98 loss to Phoenix on Saturday.

Rookie Dwyane Wade had a season-high 27 points, Lamar Odom scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half and Eddie Jones added 22, but the Heat fell to 1-9 on the road.

“We come away with a very difficult loss,” Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We’re not a real experienced team.”

The Heat had a chance to tie in the last few seconds, but Odom missed a long jumper.

“I thought it was going to go,” Odom said.

The Heat have dropped their last seven meetings with the Hornets.

STANDINGS (through Nov. 23): Hornets - 2nd place, 1 GB, Central Division. Heat - 6th place, 4 GB, Atlantic Division.

PROBABLE STARTERS: Hornets - F George Lynch, F Brown, C Magloire, G David Wesley, G Davis. Heat - F Odom, F Udonis Haslem, C Brian Grant, G Wade, G Jones.

TEAM LEADERS: Hornets - Davis, 24.7 ppg and 8.0 apg; Brown, 8.9 rpg. Heat - Jones, 20.4 ppg; Haslem, 8.2 rpg; Odom, 4.2 apg.

2002-03 SEASON SERIES: Hornets, 4-0.

LAST MEETING: March 14; Hornets, 87-83. At Miami, Mashburn had 21 points and Brown added 20 to lead New Orleans. The two players combined for 16 points in the fourth quarter. Caron Butler scored a team-high 25 points for Miami.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Hornets - 5-2 on the road; Heat - 2-2 at home.

INJURIES: Hornets - G Courtney Alexander (Achilles’); C James Lang (back); F Mashburn (knee). Heat - F Jerome Beasley (back); F Malik Allen (foot); F Rasual Butler (hand).