NEW ORLEANS -- Already demoralized, it didn't take long for defeat to hit the Hornets on Thursday night in New Orleans Arena.

San Antonio led from start to finish en route to a 103-77 win. The Spurs essentially toyed with the Hornets, quickly putting a damper on their return to New Orleans Arena.

Peja Stojakovic, David West and Bobby Jackson already were out with injuries, and starting center Tyson Chandler joined them after coming down with the flu.

Chandler came to the arena beforehand, "But he just can't go," Hornets coach Byron Scott said an hour before tipoff. "It hit him (Wednesday) night."

It is unknown whether Chandler will be healthy enough to play in Saturday night's game against Dallas in New Orleans.

Scott started veteran Marc Jackson at center in place of Chandler.

Asked why he started Jackson rather than surging rookie Hilton Armstrong, Scott said: "Experience. Now, if I were mad at him (Armstrong), I would start him against Tim Duncan. But I'm not mad at him (Armstrong). I wouldn't do him like that."

Hornets rookie Cedric Simmons already was starting in place of West at one forward position, and Scott had no interest in starting two rookies against the Southwest Division leading Spurs.

San Antonio (18-6) has now won seven of its last eight. The Hornets (10-11) have lost eight of their last 10.

The Spurs did as they pleased most of the night. They scored the game's first eight points and hit seven of their first eight shots to take a 17-6 lead.

"We knew going into the game it was going to be tough, even if we had everybody," Scott said. "We would have had to play a perfect game to have a chance. It was a good effort, we just don't have enough.

"That's a difficult team to play when you're depleted. They're not going to beat themselves. They never do."

A gathering of 15,140 was on hand, roughly 3,000 under capacity.

Roughly half the crowd left after the third quarter ended with the Hornets trailing 85-62.

The loudest ovation of the night came midway through the final period when Saints running back Deuce McAllister was shown in the big screen.

Things got so out of whack, the computerized stat program crashed in the fourth quarter and official stats were not available afterward.

"We know it doesn't get any easier," Scott said of facing the Mavericks next. "In the long run, all this is going to help us. It's going to toughen us up a little bit."