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Evans leads Pelicans in thumping of Nuggets

Dec 28, 2013 - 5:01 AM New Orleans, LA (SportsNetwork.com) - Tyreke Evans filled the stat sheet with 19 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, as the New Orleans Pelicans notched a 105-89 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Friday at New Orleans Arena.

Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis each donated 17 points, while Ryan Anderson added 16 points and 10 boards for the Pelicans, who have won back-to-back games on the heels of a four-game slide.

"We wanted this win tonight," Anderson said. "We just played hard and kept going after it."

Wilson Chandler led Denver with 22 points and nine boards, while J.J. Hickson scored 16 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Nuggets, who have lost a season-high five straight games.

Hickson's putback dunk late in the first frame found Denver within three, but the Pelicans poured in the final six points of the stanza to take a 34-25 advantage into the second quarter.

With the margin at 36-28 just over four minutes into the second, Darius Miller drained a 3-pointer, sparking a 13-3 push from the Pelicans that Anderson capped with a triple to make it 49-31 with 4:49 left in the half.

New Orleans carried a 58-45 spread into the break and led by double digits until Jordan Hamilton's trey with 5:34 left in the third brought the Nuggets within 68-59.

A Chandler 3-pointer under 90 seconds later had Denver within six, but an 11-0 sprint from New Orleans late in the frame helped the team take an 81-66 lead into the fourth.

Quincy Miller scored all nine of his points in a 13-2 Denver run that trimmed the Nuggets' deficit to 93-87 with 2:55 to play, but New Orleans closed the contest on a 12-2 push to put the game away.

"We still had a chance after we cut it to nine points in the last minutes, but we just couldn't come back," Denver head coach Brian Shaw said.

Game Notes

New Orleans improved to 8-5 at home, while Denver dropped to 7-8 on the road this season ... Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried missed his second straight game with a sprained left ankle ... Denver shot a woeful 6-for-23 from 3-point range, while New Orleans went 11-of-24 from distance.