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. NMD Clearance Sale . He made that dream a reality Wednesday night. Olt, who grew up in Branford, Connecticut, attended UConn and made a nearly 2 1-2 hour trek to Boston a handful of times to watch the Red Sox, belted a two-run homer, one of four hit by Cubs in a 16-9 rout that completed a three-game interleague series sweep. Ultra Boost 4.0 Australia . Iwakuma pitched seven strong innings to stay unbeaten in road games since last July, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 5-2 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night. http://www.nmdaustraliasale.com/supersta...-australia.html. "If we only consider this season," Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini said, "there is just one club in Manchester -- and its ours. Ultra Boost Australia Sale . The Flames announced Monday that Treliving, a former assistant general manager with the Coyotes, will take over the vacant GM spot in Calgary. "Im ready for this,"Treliving said. Wholesale NMD .com) - Tony Parker scored 17 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a comfortable 99-85 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday.After working the Toronto Argonauts game this week, a game in which the Argos thoroughly dominated the Saskatchewan Roughriders and looked like the team that finished first in the East last season, I drove to the airport to try to catch an early flight home. A fully booked flight forced me to leave two hours later. After a nice meal in which I studied the stats of the Argo win, I prepared to leave the restaurant. As I was gathering my things to leave many large individuals began to walk up and wait for tables. These men were dressed up and looked tired and as I looked closer I recognized that these were the Roughriders. They had arrived at the airport awaiting their flight home. One thing the average fan doesnt know is that you intentionally have to book the teams on later flights in case games go into overtime. Sometimes the team will be at the airport and a flight to their city leaves and they are still booked on a later flight. I had a chance to have conversations with many of them and this is certainly one of the things I miss most about coaching - the relationships with the players and other coaches. I had a good talk with Brendon LaBatte about life with children and how his part-time racing career is going. He tended to focus on how he can improve from the game a few hours before. I loved talking to the Riders offensive line coach Doug Mallone about how his team will improve next week; that it is never been easy to win in Toronto. Scott McHenry and Neil Hughes, both players that I was fortunate to work with in my time coaching, waited for a table and reflected on the game. They summed it up nicely that a lot work needs to be done for next week. Its been a while since I talked to Chris Best, a very underrated offensive lineman for the Riders, so it was great to check in on his recently married life. I went by the Regina gate because I knew thats where the coaches would be sitting. I guarantee you fans truly dont appreciate and understand how hard the coaches work to put a winning product on the field. Rookies Avon Cobourne looking dapper in a green sports coat and Ray Williams were talking about how muuch they enjoy their new roles.dddddddddddd Avon is the RBs coach and Ray is helping in the personnel department. Both players had great careers in the league and showed a tremendous passion for the game. Both men talked about how they didnt know how hard coaching was and how different it is then playing. They talked about how frustrating it is for them during the game that they cant help whats happening on the field, that its up to the players to make the plays. Im sure those two individuals will be very successful. I saw several Rider coaches already watching the game on their laptops to grade the video. Coaches are always trying to steal time whenever possible to get ahead because the work week is daunting. The technology has improved dramatically because the video department can get the coaches the game film on their laptop or their Ipad. Just five years ago you wouldve had to wait until you got home to see the game. They will try to have it finished by the time they get home. 2013 CFL Coach of the Year Corey Chamblin was sitting by himself right in front of the gate collecting his thoughts. As a former CFL head coach I can tell you after a loss you are thinking about everything that went wrong and how you can fix it. No one feels the losses as much as the head coach, and Im sure Corey will have the boys ready to go next week. As I headed to the gate, more sightings; CFL officials Richie Miller and Jim Carlisle who were also heading back to Winnipeg. Our flight was slightly delayed, most people blamed Richie and Jim for the delay. Such is the life of a CFL official. The one thing I can give insight into is the feelings after a game. The Argos, after a very difficult week, are in great spirits until the next game. The Riders will go back to work frustrated after a difficult loss. The loss always stings for the fans for a day, but for players and coaches it stays until you win again. As I was heading to my gate, I spoke to Rob Bagg, one of my all time favourite guys to coach. "Get back to work, your werent going to win all 18 games anyway. I am the only CFL person who will not lose a game this year." ' ' '