Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Tyreke Evans stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and the surging New Orleans Pelicans won their fifth straight game with a 99-92 takedown of the Denver Nuggets.
Eric Gordon scored 18 points, Dante Cunningham gave 14 and Omer Asik pulled down 16 rebounds for the Pelicans, who are tied with Houston for the longest current win streak in the league.
"I thought our defense was decent tonight," said Pelicans coach Monty Williams. "Offensively, we were out of sync in the first half. The second half, Tyreke and Eric got going."
Their best stretch of the season has come at a bizarre time, as All-Star Anthony Davis (shoulder) and sixth man Ryan Anderson (knee) both missed their fourth straight game. They are back in action on Monday in Dallas before returning to New Orleans for a three-game homestand.
The Pelicans sit one-half game behind Oklahoma City for the eighth spot in the Western Conference.
Newly acquired guard Will Barton had 16 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for Denver, while Danilo Gallinari paced the NBA's coldest team with 21 points.
Denver has dropped six in a row and 12 of its last 13 games. It is the only team that hasn't won since the All-Star break.
Randy Foye scored 19 points on 5-of-10 from deep in the setback, while Ty Lawson had just five points on 2-of-6 from the floor.
"It starts with him," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said of Lawson. "I want him to empty his clip. If he takes 30 shots, we'll live with him taking 30 shots."
Alexis Ajinca scored eight of the Pelicans' first 10 points to start the fourth. His free throws at 6:41 tied the game at 75, and Gordon followed with a triple to put New Orleans in front.
Gordon hit from deep again two minutes later to cap a brief 7-3 run that extended the lead to 85-80.
The Pelicans scored on six straight possessions from 6:08 to 2:59.
It was 37-37 at halftime and 65-65 after three.
Game Notes
Both teams had 44 rebounds ... Neither team shot it well from behind the arc, as New Orleans finished 5-for-22 and Denver went 9-for-33 ... Lawson had 11 of Denver's 17 assists ... There were nine ties and nine lead changes.
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