New Orleans, LA (My Sportsbook) - The Seattle SuperSonics hope to remain unbeaten on the young season when they travel to New Orleans to take on the Hornets tonight.

Seattle almost blew a 20-point lead in its 104-97 victory over the Houston Rockets. Gary Payton didn't have his shooting touch, but he was still the catalyst to the Sonics' attack. Payton shot just 7-of-21 from the field for 20 points, but he dished out a career-high 18 assists in the triumph.

"They made that happen," Payton said of his teammates. "Whenever I got double teamed I just tried to find the open guy and they made the jump shots. We have good shooters and I'm very confident to get them the ball.

"When they double team me, we have to learn to punish them. I wasn't scoring today, so I needed to do other things to help."

Rashard Lewis added 18 points and 12 rebounds to the victory.

"He's carrying the team right now," Lewis said of Payton. "He's the reason we're 4-0. He had 18 assists tonight, and a guard can't do better than that. He was kicking it out and were knocking down the shots.

"Eventually that will open it up for his offensive game."

The Hornets are coming off a 100-95 victory over the Miami Heat. As he seems to have a penchant for doing, Jamal Mashburn tortured his former team. Mashburn scored 35 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the win.

"I knew it was going to be one of those nights when I saw I had a lot of zip on my passes and I started seeing things before they actually happened," said Mashburn.

Miami traded Mashburn to the Hornets before the 2000-2001 season in the deal that brought Eddie Jones to Miami. Jones led the Heat with 30 points. Rookie Caron Butler and Malik Allen each scored 12, while Brian Grant scored 11 and grabbed 16 rebounds in the losing effort.

The game may be a sign of things to come for Mashburn, who missed most of the postseason last year with a virus and scored 37 points combined in the first two games this season.

"In the first couple games I was a little anxious, but I settled down and realized these guys need me," Mashburn said.

David Wesley chipped in with 19 for New Orleans, Baron Davis had 15 points and eight assists and P.J. Brown scored 14 and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Seattle has won four of the last five meetings between the teams and has an 18-10 edge in the all-time series.