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NEW ORLEANS -- Tyreke Evans looks so comfortable coming off the bench that Pelicans coach Monty Williams chose not to start him when Eric Gordon was unable to play because of his injured right hip. Williams got the result he wanted. Evans had 19 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, and New Orleans handed the Denver Nuggets their fifth straight loss, 105-89 on Friday night. It was the second straight double-double for Evans, who led the Pelicans to a victory Monday night in Sacramento with 25 points and 12 rebounds. He appreciates the significance of providing scoring off the bench. "Its important," Evans said. "When we come in like that and play together, find each other, move the ball ... I think thats when were at our best." Jrue Holiday had 17 points and four steals, causing two turnovers that led to late fast-break points as the Pelicans slammed the door on Denvers comeback bid. "I just love the way he defends and the way he competes," Williams said. "Its contagious." Anthony Davis added 17 points and four blocked shots despite playing sparingly in the first half because of three early fouls. Wilson Chandler scored 22 points and J.J. Hickson added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Nuggets, who trailed by 18 in the second quarter but were as close as 93-87 on Quincy Millers 3-pointer with 2:55 to go. Thats when Holiday found Davis for an alley-oop tip and again for a fast-break basket. Holiday followed that up with a short floater and a steal to set up Evans fast-break layup, and New Orleans easily held on from there for its second consecutive victory. A few minutes earlier, Davis briefly prevented Denver from pulling within seven points when he blocked three shots on one possession, the first two by Chandler and a third layup attempt by Andre Miller. "When hes talking on defence and rotating properly, were pretty tough," Williams said. "Our defence is pretty sound." New Orleans blocked eight shots in all and outrebounded Denver 53-42. The Pelicans outscored the Nuggets 48-36 in the paint and outshot them 47.2 per cent to 40.2 per cent. Denver was without starter Kenneth Faried for a second straight game because of his left ankle sprain. That led to a lineup shuffle in which Timofey Mozgov made his second start of the season at centre and Jordan Hamilton started his eighth game at guard in place of a healthy Randy Foye. "We talked about just trying to stay together and pulling for each other," Denver coach Brian Shaw said. "This is our team and we have to play with the guys that we have, regardless of whos out, regardless of the fact that it is a tough stretch for us, losing five in a row. "The same way we were feeling about each other when we won seven games in a row, we have to find and generate the kind of energy and effort that we need to correct what were doing right now thats allowing us to lose all these games in a row," he added. "We talk about changing behaviour in order to change results. We have to do that, and that means even if youre not in there, pulling for the guy thats in there in front of you." Ty Lawson had 14 points and 12 assists for Denver. Hamilton added 12 points. Despite a lethargic first half, Denver cut New Orleans lead to 70-64 in the third quarter after an 8-2 spurt that started with Hamiltons 3 and ended with Chandlers 3. Williams called timeout, and New Orleans responded. Al-Farouq Aminus steal led to Holidays 15-foot jumper, then Holiday stole the ball from Lawson and hit a breakaway layup. That sparked an 11-0 run that included Davis alley-oop layup off Evans lob, Aminus jumper and Evans 3. The Pelicans never trailed, thanks to sharp early shooting. New Orleans shot 52 per cent in the first quarter, building a 34-29 lead when Darius Miller hit a 3 as he was fouled and sank the free throw for a four-point play. The second quarter wasnt quite as crisp for New Orleans, and Davis spent much of the period on the bench with three fouls -- but Denver only fell further behind. Ryan Andersons third 3 of the half put the Pelicans ahead 49-31. Lawson had 10 first-half points for Denver, and his four straight to close out the second quarter pulled the Nuggets to 58-45 at halftime. NOTES: New Orleans (13-14) earned its first victory against an opponent that entered with a winning record. ... Anthony Morrow wound up starting for Gordon, who averages 15.4 points. Morrow had eight points. ... Mozgov finished with eight points and nine rebounds. ... Jason Smith missed his third straight game with a bruised right knee. Anderson started for him. ... The Pelicans play five of their next six games on the road, where they are 5-9 this season. ... The Nuggets finish a two-game road swing in Memphis on Saturday night. . Speaking on TSN Radio 1050s TSN Drive with Dave Naylor on Monday, Colangelo said he had no intention of tanking the shortened 2011-12 season, but definitely wanted a high pick in the draft. "I wish that word wasnt used for headline reasons," said Colangelo, "but the story behind it was: how can we fix the system? How can we tweak the system to make it less likely that teams are rewarded for losing records? "I do believe that if youre as transparent as we were at the time - with our season seat holders, our fans, the market place and the media - everybody knew what the plan was and what we were going through. . In the Brewers six games this season, no starter has allowed more than three runs. "We see the guy in front of us do a great job and we want to do even better," Gallardo said after the Brewers beat the Red Sox 4-0 on Sunday, his second straight scoreless start. . -- Ricky Romeros comeback bid hit another road bump Tuesday in an ugly 18-4 Jays loss to a Detroit Tigers split squad. . CEO Steve Koonin on Tuesday told the Hawks flagship radio station that he made the decision to discipline Ferry but allowed him to keep his job managing the team. He did not say what the punishment was, but noted that he relied on a law firms three-month investigation of Ferry and him describing Deng as someone who has a little African in him. . "Win basketball games," Collins said. He will get at least a few more chances. Collins played the final minutes of a winning home debut with the Brooklyn Nets, who cooled off the Chicago Bulls with a 96-80 victory Monday night.LOS ANGELES -- Zack Greinke is in midseason form. Cole Hamels is just starting his season. Greinke outpitched Hamels with seven strong innings, Hanley Ramirez homered and Yasiel Puig drove in two runs for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night. "It wasnt like everything was incredible, but I could use anything in or away at any time," Greinke said. "For the most part, throughout my whole career, Ive had at least two pitches. There have been very few games where I dont have two pitches working, and usually theres three." Greinke (4-0) allowed two runs and five hits while striking out 11 and walking one batter intentionally. Manager Don Mattingly tried to squeeze one more inning out of the right-hander, but lifted him after Jayson Nix drove Greinkes 108th pitch to left-centre for a leadoff homer. J.P. Howell got three outs in the eighth, and Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save after the Dodgers picked up a couple of insurance runs in the eighth on Ramirezs leadoff homer to centre and Justin Turners RBI single off Shawn Camp. Greinke is off to the second-best start of his 11-year career. He won his first six decisions in 2009 with Kansas City, when he finished 16-8 and established career bests with a 2.16 ERA and 242 strikeouts en route to the AL Cy Young Award. "Hes been a great pitcher. He took off in Kansas City when he won that Cy Young and hes been good ever since," Hamels said. "Hes a true competitor and hes pretty smart. He definitely knows how to pitch, and you know when you have to face a guy like him, you have to keep the other guy from scoring because hes going to do the same." It was Greinkes 18th double-digit strikeout game in the majors and his first in 33 starts with the Dodgers. This was the 17th consecutive start in which Greinke pitched at least five innings while allowing fewer than three runs. Hamels took the loss in his season debut, after missing the first three weeks because of biceps tendinitis. The 30-year-old left-hander made 86 pitches, allowing two runs and six hits over six innings with five strikes and a walk. He made 30 or more starts in each of the previous six seasons, so starting the season this late was an adjustment for him. "Thats in the past. I dont really think about last year or last week. I just keep going forwward and try to get healthy," Hamels said.dddddddddddd "I was worried about what I had to do -- build up my pitch going and get ready to start every five days. Thats what transpired for the past couple of weeks. Thats kind of all I could do. "I knew what I was going into. It was just a matter of preparing myself just like I normally have and getting ready in a spring training-type setting. It was just a couple of weeks later than everybody else." Puig struck out his first two times up, but lined an RBI single to right in the fifth to put the Dodgers ahead 2-1 after Hamels gave up a two-out single by Drew Butera and walked Greinke. "You can never walk the pitcher. I understand Greinke is a very good hitter, but at the same time, you have to let him hit his way on," Hamels said. "That right there was the ballgame. It decided everything in terms of what transpired in the next inning and it racked up my pitch count right there." Juan Uribes sacrifice fly gave Los Angeles 1-0 lead in the second, after Matt Kemp led off with the first of his two doubles. Ryan Howard tied it in the fourth with an RBI single after a leadoff double by Jimmy Rollins. "One of the keys, where Rollins hit that leadoff double, I didnt even try to keep him from scoring," Greinke said. "It would be really tough. As long as you just limit it to that one run, its not that big of a deal. Thats kind of the mindset. Its been working." Greinke had nine strikeouts through the first five innings, including five in a row after Howards hit. Greinke doubled with two outs in the seventh and scored on Puigs triple off the right field fence. NOTES: Two-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw will make a minor league rehab start on Friday with Class A Rancho Cucamonga as he works his way back from a muscle strain in his upper back. He last pitched for the Dodgers in a season-opening 3-1 win over Arizona during the teams two-game visit to Australia. ... The Phillies have 18 extra-base hits over their last four games after getting none in their previous four -- the clubs longest drought since a four-game stretch in May 1968. ... Dodgers 1B and cleanup hitter Adrian Gonzalez, whose 16-game hitting streak ended Tuesday, didnt start for the first time this season. He pinch-hit in the ninth and flied out to the warning track in centre with two men on. ' ' '
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