DENVER (AP)—Arron Afflalo scored 28 points, Al Harrington had 20 and the
Denver Nuggets pulled away for a 110-97 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on
Friday night.

Nene added 12 points and Ty Lawson had 11 points to go with 10 assists for
the Nuggets, who have won five of six since the All-Star break.

Lance Thomas scored 18 points to lead the Hornets, who lost their fourth in
a row.

Jarret Jack added 17 points and Xavier Henry and Marco Belinelli had 12
points apiece for New Orleans.

Locked in a tight game most of the way, the Nuggets used a 10-2 run to pull
out to their biggest lead to that point, 74-63 with 2:58 left in the third
period.

Harrington scored five points in the run, including driving the lane for a
dunk and Afflalo finished it off with a 3-pointer.

Chris Kaman responded with successive baskets and the Hornets fought back to
within 79-71 going into the fourth quarter.

But the Nuggets again asserted themselves, outscoring the Hornets 16-6 over
the first 4 1/2 minutes of the final period. After a pair of free throws by Lance
Thomas pulled New Orleans within six points, Harrington hit a 3-pointer and
Andre Miller soon followed with a driving layup as part of the run putting
Denver in command 95-78 with 7:25 left to play.

New Orleans got back within 97-85 after Jack made a 3-pointer and Henry had
a layup but the Nuggets put the game away by scoring seven points, with Chris
Andersen and Danilo Gallinari each muscling in dunks to help push Denver’s lead
back to 17 points.

Afflalo scored 13 of his points in the first half when Denver took a 50-46
lead over the Hornets.

The Nuggets shot 72.3 percent from the floor en route to a 32-26
first-period lead with Afflalo hitting all four shots he took from the field.

NOTES: Forward Jeff Foote was signed to a 10-day contract by New Orleans
prior to the game. A 7-footer who can also play center, Foote bolsters the
Hornets’ front-court depth. … The Nuggets were without center Timofey Mozgov
for a second consecutive game because of a left ankle injury.

Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo, left, tries to find a way around Hornets guard Marco Belinelli on Friday at the Pepsi Center. (Barry Gutierrez, The Associated Press)

Two months and more than 30 games later, the Nuggets erased the bad memories of the last time the New Orleans Hornets were here in Denver.

With a 110-97win against the Hornets on Friday night, the Nuggets won the type of game they were supposed to, unlike that humiliating night Jan. 9 when they lost 94-81 here at the Pepsi Center, or like Wednesday, when they lost 100-99 to Cleveland.

Those are the type of losses, to teams with a couple of the worst records in the league, that Nuggets coach George Karl knows can can damage a team’s confidence and return to haunt them in April.

It won’t mean much if the Nuggets win big games on the road — like they did last week at Houston and San Antonio — if they can’t

win the contests they should at home. And Friday, in the third game of a nine-game homestand, it was a game the Nuggets couldn’t bear to lose. Each of the team’s next six opponents has a winning record.

“Play aggressive, be positive,” Karl told his team before Friday’s game. “Feel good about what you’re doing and where you’re at. Get your confidence back by playing hard and playing physical.”

It was an important message for a rookie like Kenneth Faried, who was making his 10th consecutive start. Faried, the fan favorite, had a block and two dunks — including one off a huge lob pass from Ty Lawson — in the game’s first five minutes. The Nuggets also forced the Hornets into 10 turnovers by halftime. Denver forced just

13 turnovers all game on Wednesday against Cleveland.

But the line between aggression and smart can be a thin one, as Faried learned.

He was called for three fouls in the first half, and quickly picked up his fourth and fifth after halftime, heading to the bench with more than 6 minutes left in the third with nine points and four rebounds.

Denver led by as many as nine points in the first quarter, yet struggled to pull away from the Hornets. New Orleans erased an early Denver

lead to tie the game at 40 with 4:36 remaining in the second quarter. Denver led 50-46 at halftime.

Still, Denver wasn’t completely in control until late in the third quarter, when Arron Afflalo’s three-pointer gave the Nuggets an 11-point lead. From there, the Nuggets cruised.

Afflalo led all Nuggets’ players with 28 points — four shy of his career high and his second-highest total of a season — on 9-of-13 shooting. Forward Al Harrington added 20 points off the bench.

Reserve forward Lance Thomas led New Orleans with 18 points.

Lindsay H. Jones: 303-954-1262 or ljones@denverpost.com