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Bucks fall in New Orleans again

Dec 4, 2012 - 4:41 AM New Orleans, LA (Sports Network) - Ryan Anderson scored a team-high 22 points and pulled down seven rebounds as the New Orleans Hornets continued their home-court dominance of the Milwaukee Bucks with a 102-81 thumping at New Orleans Arena on Monday.

Robin Lopez put home 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, while Jason Smith added 12 points and Greivis Vasquez contributed 11 and nine assists for the Hornets, who have won 11 consecutive home games against the Bucks.

Lance Thomas and Brian Roberts donated 10 points apiece in the victory, which snapped a two-game slide for New Orleans.

"When we defend like that, it gives us a chance to shoot easy buckets and that is how you get close to 50 percent," Hornets coach Monty Williams said. "You're getting a lot of layups. You can't always trust your jump shot in the NBA with the travel and wear and tear, but if you can get layups it makes everything easier."

Brandon Jennings buried five 3-pointers en route to a game-high 25 points, while Monta Ellis finished with 17 points and six assists for Milwaukee. That still wasn't enough for the Bucks, who haven't beaten the Hornets on the road since Jan. 27, 2003.

"The pick and roll hurt us," Jennings said. "We weren't getting weak side help. It has to be a total team effort to stop that going forward."

After a back-and-forth opening 12 minutes which featured 11 lead changes and three ties, New Orleans held a 30-28 advantage.

The home side scored the first five points of the second session to open up a 35-28 lead, but a run-out layup by Milwaukee's Luc Mbah a Moute a bit later closed the gap to 37-33 with 7:48 on the first-half clock.

Al-Farouq Aminu buried a 3-ball from the top of the arc to give the Hornets their largest lead of the half at 43-33, but the Bucks hung around and got an easy driving left-handed layup by Jennings to make it a 47-45 New Orleans lead with 2:52 to go before halftime.

Roger Mason Jr. hit a 16-footer with 47 seconds to go in the half for a six- point Hornets lead, but Ellis banked home a deep trey at the horn to cut the margin to 53-50 at the half.

A layup by John Henson early in the third quarter gave the Bucks a 60-58 lead, but the Hornets began to pull away from there, using a 13-0 run to build a 71-60 margin with 4:15 on the clock.

A slam by Larry Sanders followed by 1-of-2 from the line by Mbah a Moute later cut the deficit to six, but the Hornets led 77-67 heading into the final 12 minutes.

New Orleans put the game away in the final quarter, outscoring the Bucks by a 25-14 count in the frame.

Mbah a Moute made it nine-point game with a short jumper early in the period, but the Bucks never got closer than that and a jumper by Thomas with 1:28 play gave the Hornets their largest lead of the night, 100-78.

Game Notes

The Bucks have lost 15 of their last 18 matchups as the visitor in this series as well ... The game featured 13 lead changes and seven ties ... New Orleans shot an efficient 52.4 percent from the field and hit all 11 of its free throw attempts, while the Bucks hit 38.2 percent of their shots and went 15-of-23 from the charity stripe ... The Hornets turned 16 Milwaukee turnovers into 27 points and grabbed 13 offensive rebounds which led to 23 second-chance points.