NEW ORLEANS – – Nikola Jokic had 28 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds, and the Denver Nuggets beat the New Orleans Pelicans 125-118 on Wednesday night.
Peyton Watson scored a career-high 32 points as Denver won for the eighth time in nine games. Jamal Murray had 14 points, including two free throws with 31 seconds remaining.
Zion Williamson scored 14 points for New Orleans in 29 minutes in his return from a left hamstring injury that kept him sidelined for eight games.
Rookie Derik Queen, who started opposite Jokic at center, scored a season-high 30 points to go with nine rebounds. He also helped Jokic commit nine turnovers and draw fouls with 2:44 left.
Trey Murphy III added 23 points for the Pelicans, who lost their seventh straight game and fell to 0-3 under interim coach James Borrego.
After trailing by as many as 19 points, New Orleans cut its deficit to single digits in the final minutes, but former Pelican Jonas Valanciunas, who scored 14 points, hit a pair of clutch jumpers for the Nuggets.
Pelicans rookie Jeremiah Fears scored 16 points, giving the guard 11 or more points in all but one of New Orleans’ 15 games this season.
Watson scored 11 of his points in the first six minutes of the second half, when the Nuggets expanded their 62-58 halftime lead to 81-70.
That’s when Jokic started to take over, hitting a layup, a 7-foot pull-up jumper and a 3 that made it 93-76.
With Williamson back in the starting lineup, the Pelicans took a 13-point lead when Herb Jones’ 3 made it 23-10 in the first quarter. But Denver gradually erased its deficit and took the lead for good when Watson’s 3 made it 51-49 with 3:02 left in the second quarter.
Nuggets: Visit the Houston Rockets Friday night in the NBA Cup West Group C game.
Pelicans: Visit the Dallas Mavericks Friday night in the NBA West Cup Group B game.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
