The Denver Nuggets (26 - 41) defeated the New Orleans Pelicans (36 - 30) 118 - 111 on Sunday at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. With 12 seconds left in the game, Anthony Davis came up clutch for the Pelicans, hitting a jumper to put them up by two. On the next possession down, Kenneth Faried matched Davis and converted on a layup to tie the game up with just four seconds left in regulation. Davis then had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but his shot was long and rattled out of the hoop. In overtime, the Pelicans again had a three - point lead with just under 10 seconds left. Will Barton was the savior this time around and tied the game with a huge three - pointer for the Nuggets on the next possession, forcing it into a second overtime. The Pelicans struggled offensively in the second overtime, with Tyreke Evans scoring their only two points, and they went on to take a seven - point loss. This was a tough loss for the Pelicans, who are in a fierce battle for the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference standings. They now sit a full game back from Oklahoma City for that eighth seed, so they'll need bounce back with a win on Tuesday. Despite taking the loss, Davis continued to play extremely well, as he finished with a game - high of 36 points (16 - 28 FG, 0 - 1 3Pt, 4 - 6 FT) to go along with 14 rebounds, seven assists and nine blocked shots. He did a little bit of everything in this game, nearly recording a quadruple - double by the end. Davis recorded his fifth double - double of his last six games, a six - game stretch where he's averaged 31 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks. Evans came just short of a triple - double of his own and posted 25 points (11 - 20 FG, 1 - 3 3Pt, 2 - 4 FT), nine rebounds and 10 assists. He's shot extremely well of late, finishing 55 percent or higher from the field in each of his last three games. Along with making a game - tying bucket at the end of regulation, Faried also posted 20 points (7 - 17 FG, 0 - 2 3Pt, 6 - 6 FT) and 10 rebounds in the win. With Jusuf Nurkic returning to the starting lineup at center, Faried was able to move back to his natural power forward position. The Nuggets also saw a strong bench effort, with both Barton and Jameer Nelson reaching double figures. Barton recorded 25 points (10 - 16 FG, 3 - 6 3Pt, 2 - 2 FT) and nine rebounds in 47 minutes while Nelson posted 18 points (7 - 16 FG, 4 - 8 3Pt) and six assists in 38 minutes. Since joining the Nuggets at the trade deadline, he's averaged 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steals over 13 games. Ty Lawson chipped in with 19 points (9 - 18 FG, 1 - 5 3Pt) and nine assists in his return to action after sitting out the Nuggets' last game with an illness. The Pelicans' next game will be at home against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, while the Nuggets will travel to Memphis to play the Grizzlies on Monday.
["TeamStat(G,'Pelicans') has 30 Losses ,has 111 Total points ,has 36 Wins ."
 "TeamStat(G,'Nuggets') has 41 Losses ,has 118 Total points ,has 26 Wins ."]