Arron Afflalo had a team-high 20 points and Jusuf Nurkic had 15 points and nine rebounds as the Denver Nuggets snapped their seven-game losing streak with a 93-85 win over the New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday night.
Denver also got nice contributions for Kenneth Faried, who had 14 points and seven rebounds, and Danilo Gallinari, who paced the second-unit with 11 points.
The Nuggets got off to a fast start in the first quarter, putting up 28 points while holding New Orleans to just 17 points. Denver managed to get out to an early lead despite an off night shooting the ball from point guard Ty Lawson. Lawson finished with just five points on 2-12 shooting, though he did hand out 13 assists.
“Ty didn’t really score the ball tonight but he was aggressive offensively to start the game getting everybody else involved,” said head coach Brian Shaw. “Wil(son) got us off to a good start, and Juka (Nurkic), all those guys played well in the first quarter. So I let that whole starting unit ride in the first quarter.”
Nursing a ten-point lead at halftime, the Nuggets gave up some ground to the Pelicans in the third, as New Orleans outscored the Nuggets 31-21 in the quarter. The Pelicans shot 24 free throws on the night, compared to just seven by Denver.
Anthony Davis, who left partway into the third quarter with an apparent knee injury only to return in the final frame, paced the Pelicans with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Tyreke Evans added 25 points of his own for New Orleans.
The game remained tight down to the wire, but an Afflalo three-pointer with 2:30 left in the game put the Nuggets up four, and his jumper with under one second remaining sealed it for Denver.
The Nuggets will travel to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies tomorrow night. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
Zach Marburger is a staff writer for Mile High Sports. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @BurchBurger.
