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Hornets win despite Love's 45th straight double-double

Feb 26, 2011 - 4:18 AM Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - Trevor Ariza led a balanced Hornets attack with 18 points as New Orleans topped Minnesota, 95-81, at Target Center, spoiling Kevin Love's milestone night.

Chris Paul added 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds while Jarrett Jack scored 13 points in a reserve role for New Orleans, which has won back- to-back games since dropping seven of eight.

"It was a big win for us," Ariza said. "They beat us pretty bad sometimes and in order for us to get where we want to go we have to be prepared."

Love posted his 45th consecutive double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds in the loss. Love's double-double run is the longest in a single season in the NBA since 1978-79, surpassing Moses Malone's 44-game mark for Philadelphia in 1982-83. Malone had 51 straight double-doubles over the course of the 1978-79 and '79-80 seasons.

Wesley Johnson and Luke Ridnour both added 22 points in the loss, Minnesota's seventh straight.

"The way we are going now, it's not good basketball and we have to change that," Ridnour said. "We just have to keep competing."

Up 55-43 at halftime, the Hornets' lead remained around double-digits throughout the third quarter, and reached a game-high 19 with a Quincy Pondexter jumper with 1:18 remaining.

The T-Wolves responded with a Ridnour three-pointer, but newly-acquired Carl Landry scored two of his four points on a pair from the line, giving the Hornets a 79-61 lead entering the final stanza.

The fourth quarter was never in contention.

"Tonight was a good game for us," Ariza said.

The Hornets used a barrage of three-pointers to take the lead in the final minutes of the first quarter. New Orleans went 5-of-9 from beyond the arc and took a 35-26 lead after one.

Jack scored six of New Orleans' first eight points in the second, and after an Emeka Okafor hook shot at 6:20 the lead was 45-33. The Hornets' advantage reached as high as 15 in the closing minutes of the quarter, and Ridnour made 1-of-2 from the line with 13.9 seconds remaining to trim the New Orleans margin to 55-43 entering the locker room.

Game Notes

Landry finished with four points and five rebounds in his first game for the Hornets since being acquired from Sacramento...Okafor made his return after missing 11 straight contests with a strained left hip...Minnesota won the two other meetings between the clubs this season...Anthony Randolph finished with two points on 1-of-2 from the field in his first game with Minnesota since coming over from the Knicks in the three-team Carmelo Anthony deal...Michael Beasley added eight points and six rebounds in the loss...The Timberwolves committed 21 turnovers that the Hornets turned into 21 points...Minnesota scored 19 second chance points and held a 48-33 rebounding advantage.