The Denver Nuggets defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 122-113 at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, on Tuesday, to avoid suffering the third straight loss.

Nikola Jokic scored his second triple-double of the past nine games after dropping 26 points, 18 rebounds and 15 assists for the Nuggets. He only shot 14 field goals (FGs) but made 10 of them, most of which were in the paint and shot after off-ball movement. Though Jokic is capable of working on slow-moving Jonas Valanciunas from outside and punishing undersized Larry Nance Jr. in the low block, he spent most of the efforts orchestrating in transition and the high post to get everyone involved in offense.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. all benefitted a lot from Jokic's playmaking and scored in double digits. Like commentator Stan Van Gundy said on TNT, whatever is good for the Nuggets, Jokic delivers.

While Jokic focused on setting up the Nuggets' offense, Jamal Murray provided the major firepower to the team by going 7-for-12 from downtown. He got 13 points in the third quarter alone, helping the team soon wipe the three-point deficit (60-57) from the first half and leave the Pelicans nine points behind (93-84) after this period.

It's important to the Nuggets for Murray to attack as he did on Tuesday night. Though Jokic is able to make offensive contributions from anywhere on the floor, it takes more effort for a big man like him to enter the position where he is the most comfortable with making a play.

By contrast, Murray doesn't have Jokic's complete skill set, but it's easier for a perimeter player like him to change the opponent's defense via penetration, especially with his shooting ability off the dribble. Under circumstances like this, the Nuggets' opponents won't be able to cover everything of their offense because Gordon can deal with the ball as well and he had six assists in Tuesday's game.

The Pelicans had both CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram back after resting them against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday. Both struggled to shoot 12-for-38 from the field, but they combined to deliver 16 assists for the team. Unfortunately, that was not enough for the team to avoid the ninth loss in a row.

Herbert Jones and Nance Jr. were two of the best-performing Pelicans in Tuesday's game. Jones went 6-for-8 in FGs and made seven free throws to get score 21 points while getting five steals. Nance Jr. had two steals as well and he contributed a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds, including three on the offensive glass.

The Nuggets extended their lead to 13 points (103-90) at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but the Pelicans managed to cut their deficit point by point by counting on the small-ball squad centered by Nance Jr., keeping the competition alive until the final three minutes. As Jonas Valanciunas had his time cut under 20 minutes due to his defensive weakness, the small unit could give the Pelicans another option with their quickness and ball-pressuring abilities.

Other games on Tuesday (away teams come first):

Miami Heat 100-97 Cleveland Cavaliers

The Heat managed to edge the Cavaliers at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, for two major reasons. On the offensive end, the Heat shot 14-for-31 behind the arc. Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin, Kyle Lowry and Gabe Vincent combined to make 12 triples at a 3-point rate of over 50 percent. Jimmy Butler didn't shoot as accurately as they did, but he earned 15 free throws, more than the whole team of opponents (12).

The Cavaliers were outperformed by the Heat in both 3-point shooting and offensive aggressiveness. Their starting point guard Darius Garland played only 30 minutes because of foul trouble. Donovan Mitchell shared part of his orchestrating duties by delivering nine assists but missed 10 of the 13 triples he shot to score only 16 points.

Los Angeles Lakers 129-123 New York Knicks

LeBron James dropped a triple-double of 28 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for the Lakers at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Tuesday. He has reached another milestone in his career by surpassing Steve Nash to rank fourth on the NBA all-time assists leaders list with 10,338 assists.

In his third game since coming back from injury, Anthony Davis made nine of 16 FG attempts and nine free throws to get 27 points and nine rebounds for the purple and gold. His return and the arrival of Rui Hachimura have enabled the team to match most of the opponents in front-court size. They gave Julius Randle and RJ Barrett a hard time in Tuesday's game by limiting their FG rate to 34.3 percent (11-for-32).

Los Angeles Clippers 108-103 Chicago Bulls

Kawhi Leonard dominated the floor at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, to lead the Clippers to overcome a 19-point deficit to win on Tuesday. He scored 22 of his 33 points in the second half and delivered five assists and five steals for the team. Paul George and Ivica Zubac both had a double-double, combing to get 30 points and 22 rebounds. Norman Powell contributed 27 points off the bench.

The Bulls wasted a good start of leading 32-20 in the first quarter. They committed as many as 20 turnovers, 14 of which came from the team's star duo, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine. In the decisive fourth quarter, they combined to take only four field goals and missed half of them.

Charlotte Hornets 115-124 Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo extended the Bucks' winning streak to five games after dropping a double-double of 38 points and 18 rebounds at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday. Khris Middleton continued to play off the bench to get 18 points for the home team.

The Hornets had 11 players reach double-digit points, but the team went as poorly as 42-for-111 from the field. They kept charging the Bucks’ paint, but missed over half of their attempts there while watching Brook Lopez block five of their shots. LaMelo Ball filled up his stats sheet with a triple-double of 27 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists plus three steals, three blocks and four turnovers. Nonetheless, his performance didn't extend the Hornets' two-game winning trend.