NEW ORLEANS -- The star-less Denver Nuggets won another game with defence and balanced scoring. Danilo Gallinari led five players in double figures with 23 points and the Nuggets held the Hornets without a point for more than five minutes in a 19-0 run spanning the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, beating New Orleans 96-88 on Friday night. The Nuggets scored the last eight points of the third quarter and took the lead for the first time, 64-63, on Andre Millers shot in the lane to start the fourth. They scored on their first five possessions of the fourth while the Hornets did not get off a shot, committing four consecutive turnovers. "When we play really good defence, our offence is easy and we usually win games," Gallinari said. "We have to be focused every time." Al Harrington had 14 points off the bench for the balanced Nuggets, who won their fourth in a row. Andre Miller and Arron Afflalo added 13 points, with Ty Lawson contributing 12 points and eight assists. Denver has won 24 of 33 regular-season games since trading Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks last February. The Nuggets scored 34 points in the fourth quarter, but all coach George Karl wanted to talk about was defence. Exhibit A was backup centre Kosta Koufos, who had eight points on 4-of-4 shooting, all in the second half, but also blocked three shots. "Kosta was active on the ball and turned the tide," Karl said. "He turned the hammer with a couple of them (blocked shots) at a crucial time. It was a tough game, but actually we won fairly easily because of plays like that." Reserve Greivis Vasquez had 16 points for the Hornets, who lost their fifth in a row. New Orleans played without Eric Gordon, who scored 22 points in Wednesdays loss to Philadelphia but will be out two to three weeks after experiencing swelling in the same right knee that forced him to miss four consecutive games before that. Forward Trevor Ariza sat out his second straight game with a right groin strain. "We have guys that are in position to make a name for themselves when they have these minutes," Hornets coach Monty Williams said. "Unfortunately, its a bit much for them right now." The first few minutes of the fourth quarter were decisive. After Millers basket, Kosta Koufos scored inside, Miller drove for a three-point play, Rudy Fernandez had a layup off another Hornets turnover and Gallinari sank two free throws, giving the Nuggets a 73-63 lead. They were ahead by at least five the rest of the way. The Hornets, who lost a six-point, fourth-quarter lead to Philadelphia on Wednesday, were even worse this time. They did not get a shot off in the quarter until Jarrett Jack clanked one off the rim after more than 2 1/2 minutes. "The same thing happened like last game," forward Carl Landry said. "We held them to eight points in the third quarter and then the last couple of possessions they went on a run and in the fourth quarter we gave them 34 points. That is something you cant have." Gallinari gave Denver its largest lead at 85-73 with his third 3-pointer with 4:27 left, then celebrated on his way back down the court. "Everybody was feeling good," he said. "Everybody did a good job." The Hornets, who entered as the NBAs worst three-point shooting team (19.5 per cent), went 4 of 5 on threes in the first quarter, taking a 32-24 lead. Marco Belinelli hit two threes early and fed Vasquez for a third after passing up an open shot. Landry then drove the baseline for an emphatic reverse dunk with 19 seconds left, giving the Hornets a season high for points in any quarter. They tied their season low of 15 for any quarter in the second, an ugly stretch for both teams. New Orleans scored six points and Denver had four in the first six minutes. They combined for 13 turnovers, with the Hornets committing eight. Vasquezs three gave the Hornets their largest lead, 43-32, but Gallinari scored five of his 12 first-half points as the Nuggets cut their deficit to 47-41 by halftime. "We were disappointed and coach Karl was disappointed," Gallinari said. "When we came in the locker-room, he said we were playing bad defence and bad offence and we had to wake up. Thats what we did." The Hornets werent much better in the third quarter, scoring 16 points. Denver finally came alive and carried its momentum at the end of the quarter into the fourth. Lawson, who had four turnovers and three assists while missing eight of 10 shots to that point, handed out five assists with only one miscue the rest of the way. "I was playing like trash at the beginning," he said. "I couldnt hit a basket, so I tried to do other things for the team with assists and diving on loose balls. We made their shots as hard as possible, and it led to easy layups and baskets." Notes: Nene returned for Denver after missing two games with a bruised heel. He scored six points on 2-of-7 shooting. . The Hornets and Nuggets meet again in Denver on Sunday. . New Orleans cleared Xavier Henry on Friday, finalizing a three-way trade with Philadelphia and Memphis that was held up briefly as they checked out Henrys injured right knee. Henry said Wednesday he expected to be ready to play within two weeks. . Vasquez set a career high with three three-pointers, and the Hornets hit a season-high eight. cheap jerseys from china . -- John Farrell has plenty of reasons to be bummed that the Toronto Blue Jays wont be back in Kansas City this season. cheap jerseys . -- John Farrell has plenty of reasons to be bummed that the Toronto Blue Jays wont be back in Kansas City this season. http://www.cheapjerseysfox.com/ . David Perron scored a goal and added an assist on Saturday as the Edmonton Oilers came away with a 5-2 exhibition victory over the Vancouver Canucks. wholesale jerseys .Y. -- Kyle Williams has taken the next big step forward on a surgically repaired left foot. cheap nfl jerseys . -- Jim Calhoun could scarcely watch when the most improbable post-season run of his coaching life at Connecticut came down to an open three-point attempt by Arizonas Jamelle Horne. (Sports Network) - Dallas certainly got the Lakers attention in the opener of its Western Conference quarterfinals series. Now, the underdog Mavericks hope to seize control of the set with the two-time defending NBA champions when the teams collide in Game 2 of the series tonight at Staples Center. Dirk Nowitzki made two big free throws with 19.5 seconds remaining on Monday, as the Mavs erased a 16-point deficit to edge the Lakers, 96-94, in Game 1. Nowitzki ended with 28 points and 14 rebounds for the third-seeded Mavericks, who needed six games to beat Portland in the first round. Jason Terry added 15 points off the bench. We stick together and find a way, Terry said. This wasnt our best game but were not going to quit. Kobe Bryant finished with 36 points and five rebounds for the second-seeded Lakers, who defeated the Hornets in six games to advance. We felt like we gave the game away, Lakers head coach Phil Jackson said. Im not so sure Dallas didnt outplay us, but the players felt like we gave it away. The game was won in the third quarter when we got the lead and stopped playing defense and stopped playing offense. It took a lot of energy out of us and gave a lot of energy to them. Pau Gasol donated 15 points and 11 boards, while Lamar Odom tallied 15 and 12 in defeat as the Lakers scored just two points the final 3:32 of the game. We maybe got a little carried away, Gasol said. We didnt make good decisions offensively and we paid the price defensively. We gave them a chance that way. We got a little too excited at that particular time. Shawn Marions short jumper pulled Dallas within one, 92-91, with 1:20 remaining. After Bryant made a 10-foot jumper, Nowitzki answered with a trademark fadeaway to make it a 94-93 game with 40 seconds to play. Bryant then made a costly mistake while driving to the basket. Great defense by the Mavericks forced the All-Star to kick the ball out, and Terry was there for the steal. Gasol fouled Nowitzki at the other end and the German superstar calmly made both shots to give Dallas a 955-94 edge with 19.dddddddddddd5 seconds to go. Another big turnover hurt the Lakers on their ensuing trip down the floor. Gasol was doubled beyond the three-point arc and tried to hand the ball off to Bryant. The two Laker players collided and Jason Kidd picked up the loose ball. Kidd was immediately fouled and made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to give the Mavs a 96-94 margin with 3.1 seconds to play. Bryant had a good look at a three-pointer, but his shot was off the mark at the buzzer. It seemed like that ball took forever to come down, Chandler said on Bryants potential game-winner. Once I saw it hit rim, I probably was the happiest person in the room ... you kind of are grown to expect him to make those shots. When he had another chance at it, I was like come on we have to play some (defense) because I grew up in LA and Ive seen this too many times. The win was quite a breakthrough for the Mavericks came into Mondays contest with an 0-10 mark on the road against the Lakers in the playoffs and a miserable 11-53 regular season mark against the champs in Hollywood. We can say that we didnt play our best game, but we found a way to win, Kidd said. Thats the bottom line this time of year ... the Lakers have been in this position a lot of times and theyve found a way to win the series, so we havent done anything yet. Nowitzki finished with 11 points in the fourth quarter, including four in the final 40 seconds. Ive basically seen it all in this league, Nowitzki said. Its my 13th year. Ive got to be ready for anything. The teams finished with identical 57-25 records during the regular season, but the Lakers won the season series, 2-1, to earn home-court advantage in the first playoff meeting between the teams since 1988. Dallas and LA have met three times previously in the playoffs with the Lakers taking all three sets, a 4-1 series win back in 1983-84 West semifinals, a 4-2 triumph in the 85-86 West semis, and a seven-game triumph in the 87-88 West finals. Game 3 of the set will shift to Dallas on Friday. cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '