Greivis Vasquez had 18 points and 13 assists as the New Orleans Hornets got past the Minnesota Timberwolves 104-92 to register their fourth straight win.
Eric Gordon added 16 points for the Hornets, Ryan Anderson had 15 and chipped in seven rebounds, Jason Smith had 14 points and five rebounds, Al-Farouz Aminu finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds and Roger Mason contributed with 10 points.
"We definitely are really stringing it together," Anderson said. "Obviously, that first quarter, we want to play better than that. We really gave a great effort to come back in that game."
Timberwolves outshined the Hornets 29-14 in the first quarter. Seeing his starters struggling, New Orleans coach Monty Williams made some changes in the lineup and the reserves dominated the Timberwolves in the second quarter 26-17.
"I threw a few lineups out in the first half just to try to get some energy," the Associated Press quoted Williams as saying. "This is what young teams go through, the day in and day out grind of the NBA. It's hard to get your mental focus up and a lot of times young guys just can't do it."
For the Timberwolves, Luke Ridnour top scored with 20 points, making six out of 12 attempts from behind the 3-point arc. Nikola Pekovic had 18 points and six rebounds, Andrei Kirilenko added 17 points and grabbed five rebounds, Dante Cunningham contributed with 12 points and nine rebounds and Alexey Shved finished with 11 points.
Minnesota fielded only nine players as their few key players were injured.
The Timberwolves entered the second half with a 46-40 lead, but the Hornets defense limited them to 4 out of 16 attempts from the floor in the third quarter. Anthony Davis tied the scores at 50 by hitting a jumper with 6:36 remaining in the third period.
Soon Vasquez shot a 3-pointer to put New Orleans in the leading position 55-54 for the first time in the game. Then Davis had a layup to extend the Hornets' lead further with 4:13 left. It helped New Orleans to outscore Minnesota 30-15 and take a 70-61 lead in the game.
"I thought (Davis) was a little too relaxed to start and then the second time he went back in he was running the floor, getting layups and dunks," Williams said.
The Hornets entered in the last quarter with a nine-point lead and the way they had dominated the second and the third quarters, they looked poised to win the fourth quarter and the game quite easily, but the Timberwolves gave them tough competition in the fourth period. The Hornets still managed to outscore their opponents 34-31 to win the game by 12 points.
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