Nuggets 137, Pelicans 107: Kenneth Faried scored a career-high 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as Denver used a 40-point first quarter to begin speeding away from visiting New Orleans.

Aaron Brooks added 24 points off the bench on 6-for-8 shooting from 3-point range and Timofey Mozgov contributed 15 points for the Nuggets, who entered the game with an identical 32-42 record to the Pelicans. Ty Lawson added 14 points and 12 assists and Evan Fournier scored another 12 for the reserves.

Tyreke Evans finished with 27 points and eight rebounds, Anthony Morrow scored 17 off the bench and fellow reserve Jeff Withey had 13 points to lead New Orleans, which lost leading scorer and rebounder Anthony Davis to back spasms late in the second quarter. Davis, who came in averaging 21.3 points and 10.3 rebounds, finished with six points and three boards in 11 minutes.

The Pelicans scored the game’s first four points but that was most of the noise they would make as the Nuggets shot 60 percent in the opening quarter en route to building a 40-26 lead. A couple of attempts by New Orleans to get back within single digits early in the second quarter was put to rest when Brooks buried a 3-pointer and Faried followed with a three-point play to extend the lead to 56-39 at the midway point of the second quarter.

Denver took a 71-53 lead into the locker room and didn’t let off the gas in the third, scoring another 34 points to push their advantage to 105-81. The Nuggets shot 56.5 percent from the floor for the game and 55.6 from 3-point range.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Faried, who shot 14-for-19, scored his previous career high of 32 points March 7 against the visiting Los Angeles Lakers in a 134-126 victory. … Brooks, a 6-foot point guard, finished with two of Denver’s 12 blocks, including one on 7-2 center Alexis Ajinca with about three minutes left in the first half. … The previous season high for points allowed by the Pelicans was 128 and that came in a triple-overtime win against the Bulls.