New Orleans' Robin Lopez ran off 11 straight points in the third quarter to spark the Hornets to a much needed 102-81 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Bucks.
Seven-footer Lopez scored 21 points and his hot streak helped turn a two-point deficit into a 71-60 advantage as the Hornets cruised to the win.
"I was just in the right place at the right time," Lopez told reporters. "[My teammates] all found me at the rim. That's the way we're supposed to play."
It was just the second win in 11 games for New Orleans (5-11), who are rebuilding with a young roster and were without top overall draft pick Anthony Davis for the eighth straight game.
Ryan Anderson paced the scoring for New Orleans with 22 points, one of six Hornets to finish in double figures.
New Orleans grabbed a 10-point lead in the second quarter before the Bucks battled back to take a brief edge in the third.
Milwaukee were coming off a quality win against Boston on Saturday but could not find a similar effort to get them over the line on Monday as they were outscored 49-31 in the second half and shot just 38 per cent for the game.
The Bucks were led by Brandon Jennings' 25 points but they have now lost six of their last eight games to fall out of first place in the Central standings.
"It seemed like we dribbled into crowds tonight and had trouble getting out of crowds," said Scott Skiles, the Bucks coach. "When we start dribbling too much, we get in trouble."
Blake Griffin poured in 30 points as the Los Angeles Clippers held on to claim their third straight victory, 105-104 over the Utah Jazz.
Randy Foye sunk a three-pointer in the dying moments to get the Jazz within one, but missed with a desperation shot after stealing the ensuing inbounds pass.
"I wish there were 3 seconds left because I would have been able to get to the basket or line it up and knock it down," said Foye.
"But it wasn't meant to be."
Crawford added 20 points from the bench for the Clippers, while Mo Williams had 20 points and 12 assists for Utah, who suffered their first home defeat of the season.
The Portland Trail Blazers made light of an 18-point deficit late in the game to storm back and beat the Charlotte Bobcats 118-112 in overtime.
With a little over five minutes remaining Charlotte led 97-79, but, led by LaMarcus Aldridge's 25 points and 13 rebounds, the Trail Blazers came back and earned OT through Luke Babbitt's three-pointer and they pushed ahead thereafter.
Corey Brewer's 19 points paced the Denver Nuggets in their 113-110 victory over the Toronto Raptors, Glen Davis and Arron Afflalo had 24 points apiece in the Orlando Magic's 102-94 win over the Golden State Warriors, and the Detroit Pistons were 89-79 winners over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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