The New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Denver Nuggets, 121-106, at Smoothie King Center on Sunday afternoon.

The Pelicans (15-8) got off to a slow start against the Nuggets (14-9), but in the end, they managed to turn things around and delivered a strong performance to come away with the win. Denver grabbed the lead in the early going and jumped out to a 31-27 lead in the first quarter, but New Orleans made it a one-point game after a 32-29 score in the second quarter. From there, though, it was all Pelicans the rest of the way. New Orleans outscored their rivals by 28-21 and 34-25 in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, and that was enough to close the game with absolute ease. The Pelicans made a difference with his long-range shooting, connecting on 42.3 percent of his threes against Denver’s 25.8 percent.

Zion Williamson had another impressive game and led the Pelicans with 25 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Jonas Valanciunas chipped in with 13 points and Trey Murphy III delivered 12 points with three steals. However, the star of the game was none other than Jose Alvarado, who exploded for a career-high 38 points (12-19 FG, 8-11 3Pt, 6-7 FT) while adding five assists and three rebounds across 27 minutes off the bench. CJ McCollum only scored seven points while going 3-for-11 from the field.

Nikola Jokic came up short of posting a triple-double but ended with 32 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists, while Jamal Murray finished with 18 points and five assists. Aaron Gordon delivered 19 points and eight boards, and Bruce Brown chipped in with 13 points and added six boards.