National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
New Orleans 99, Minnesota 90
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, April 7, 2012
Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
Officials: #36 David Jones, #23 Jason Phillips, #66 Haywoode Workman
Attendance: 15520

HORNETS 99, TIMBERWOLVES 90: Jason Smith scored a career-high 26 points on 12-of-16 shooting and added 10 rebounds as host New Orleans picked up its second win in the last three games. Minnesota continued its rapid fall out of contention with its fifth straight setback.

Chris Kaman recorded 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting and 10 rebounds for the Hornets, who dominated the interior with a 48-33 rebounding advantage.

After allowing 128 points in a loss at San Antonio on Friday, New Orleans slowed the pace by going to its front line against the Timberwolves. Kaman and Smith responded with strong performances while Carl Landry and Al-Farouq Aminu were both solid off the bench in helping New Orleans open a double-digit lead.

Kevin Love collected 29 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves, who made a charge at the beginning of the fourth quarter by storming from 12 points down to cut it to 85-83 on Nikola Pekovic’s free throws with 4:50 to play.

But the Hornets went back to the inside, where Kaman scored five straight points to open the gap again. Michael Beasley hit a 3-pointer for Minnesota but Greivis Vasquez responded with two straight buckets to push it back to 94-86 with 2:53 left.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Hornets G Eric Gordon played his first back-to-back set since returning to the lineup and struggled to 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting in 25 minutes. … Minnesota entered the night third in the NBA in rebounding. … Kaman also had four blocked shots.
Top Game Performances
 
Minnesota   New Orleans
Kevin Love 29 Scoring Jason Smith 26
Jose Juan Barea 7 Assists Greivis Vasquez 10
Kevin Love 12 Rebounds Chris Kaman 10
Kevin Love 4 Free Throws Made Carl Landry 4
Martell Webster 2 Steals Jason Smith 3
Michael Beasley 1 Blocks Chris Kaman 4
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Minnesota 90 40.7 10-25 14-18 20 33 7 6 11
New Orleans 99 48.8 4-13 15-19 26 48 8 9 14
Upcoming Games
  • New Orleans will play their next game at home against L.A. Lakers. The Pelicans have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .000 after a loss.
  • Minnesota will play their next game at home against Phoenix. The Timberwolves have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .000 after a loss.