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.