OKLAHOMA CITY, Nov. 1 (Ticker) -- The displaced New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets looked pretty comfortable in their new home.

P.J. Brown scored 20 points and J.R. Smith added 19 as the Hornets opened the season with a resounding 93-67 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

NBA TV highlights from Hornets-Kings: Play

Due to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Hornets will play 35 of their 41 games at the Ford Center, with the remaining six to be played in Baton Rouge.

The first regular-season game played in Oklahoma City was preceded by a lengthy ceremony that included an introductory speech from Mayor Mick Cornett and Hornets owner George Shinn.

Former King Wayman Tisdale, who played collegiately at Oklahoma, performed the national anthem, and the crowd remained on its feet until the Hornets made their first basket, a layup by Brown three minutes into the game.

"We wanted to try to get on the right track and send a message to everybody that we're a different team, a better team." said Brown, who also grabbed 10 rebounds.

The fans had plenty of reason to cheer for the remainder of the contest. After a back-and-forth opening quarter, Brown scored eight points in a 16-2 run that gave the Hornets a 38-27 advantage with 3:20 left in the first half.

The Kings shot just 26 percent (5-of-19) in the second period, which ended with the Hornets holding a 44-33 lead.

"We played great team defense tonight," Brown said. "That let our young guys get out on the wing and put pressure on them. You couldn't paint a prettier picture for Opening Night."

Sacramento's Peja Stojakovic opened the third period with a 3-pointer before Smith took over in a 14-2 spurt that broke open the game. He made a jumper and a 3-pointer around a dunk by Sacramento's Shareef Abdur-Rahim before rookie Chris Paul hit a layup to make it 51-38 with 9:18 left.

Smith then scored seven straight points, capping the burst with a steal and a dunk at the 7:28 mark that made it 58-38. From then on, the Kings got no closer than 16 points.

"We didn't move the ball, didn't play well together," said Kings coach Rick Adelman, whose team shot just 31 percent (25-of-80) from the floor. "You can't win on the road when you are that inefficient offensively."

The 26-point victory was the Hornets' biggest season-opening triumph in franchise history. They have won six of their last seven openers.

The fourth overall pick in the draft, Paul had 13 points and eight rebounds in his NBA debut, combining with Smith to form the youngest backcourt in modern NBA history. At 20 years, five months old, Paul is four months older than Smith.

"It was really nice to see everything clicking," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "Chris (Paul) did an excellent job of pushing the ball. That's the type of basketball we want to play."

Stojakovic scored 18 points and Abdur-Rahim contributed 14 and eight rebounds for Sacramento, which forced 21 turnovers but managed only five fast-break points.

"We couldn't stop them and we couldn't hit a shot," said Kings newcomer Bonzi Wells, who managed just six points on 2-of-11 shooting. "You can't pinpoint one thing, so you may as well pinpoint both. Our offense (stunk), our defense (stunk) and we (stunk) as a team. The good news is we got a game tomorrow night."