DENVER -- Paul Pierce scored 18 points and the Brooklyn Nets rebounded from their worst loss more than 10 years by routing the slumping Denver Nuggets 112-89 on Thursday night. Kyle Fuller . Joe Johnson, Marcus Thornton, and Mason Plumlee each added 10 points for the Nets, who snapped a six-game losing streak in Denver. The Nets hadnt won in the Mile High City since a 112-102 victory on Jan. 27, 2007. Randy Foye had 15 points to lead Denver, which has lost four in a row and nine of 10. Brooklyns 7-foot centre Jason Collins, the NBAs first openly gay player appearing in his third game since being signed to a 10-day contract, was given a round of applause from the crowd when he entered the game for the first time with 8:02 left. Collins finished with three points. Before the game, Collins said he planned to meet afterward with the family of Wyoming college student Matthew Shephard, who was tortured and murdered in 1998 because he was gay. Collins wears his No. 98 jersey in Shepards honour, and he said during a pregame news conference that the chance to meet Dennis and Judy Shepard was "one of those cool treats in life." The Nets were coming off a 104-80 loss at Portland the night before, their biggest loss since a 47-point defeat to Memphis on Dec. 13, 2003. But they quickly put that behind them with a runaway win of their own in a game in which they never trailed. Pierce scored 11 points in the third quarter, helping the Nets extend their lead to 38 points. Brooklyn took an 89-56 advantage into the fourth quarter and played reserves for most of the rest of the game. The offensive struggles by Denver, which was without leading scorer Ty Lawson (left rib fracture) for an eighth consecutive game, were epitomized in the first quarter. The Nuggets were held to a season-low eight points on 3-for-18 shooting from the floor (16.7 per cent) and trailed by as many 31 points in the second quarter before managing to get within 23 at the half. It got bad enough for the Nuggets that the crowd, after seeing Timofey Mozgov and Kenneth Faried both miss dunks in the first quarter, cheered derisively when Mozgov hit a layup early in the second. The Nets took advantage of the Nuggets horrible start to pull out to 59-36 halftime lead. Each of 10 Nets players seeing action to that point scored at least once. Denver ended up with as many turnovers in the first quarter as points. NOTES: The Nuggets were also without F Wilson Chandler, who was held out of the game because of sore right knee. ... The previous low for points in a quarter by the Nuggets was 12, against Oklahoma City on Jan. 9. ... The Nets Shaun Livingston made his 33rd start of the year, the most in a season in his career. ... Brooklyn improved to 4-10 in the second of back to back games. ... Since the beginning of January, the Nets have gone 17-8, fourth-best among Eastern Conference teams in that stretch. ... Denver, historically one of the teams with the strongest home-court advantage, fell to 14-15 at the Pepsi Center this season. ... All 13 Nets playing in the game scored. Alshon Jeffery . Salamida, 29, has played the last four seasons with the Goldeyes. Returning to the team halfway through last season, he went 7-1 with a 2. Charles Tillman .com) - There was clearly no looking ahead for the U. VANCOUVER -- The San Jose Sharks have made beating the Vancouver Canucks a habit of late. Thursday night was no different. Antti Niemi made 25 saves and Matt Pelechs first NHL goal stood up as the winner as the Sharks stayed perfect on the young season by downing the Canucks 4-1 for a ninth straight victory over their Pacific Division rivals. "It was a test for us to come on the road and play in this building again," said Sharks head coach Todd McClellan. "There werent any freebies. A good one for us to play in." Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Patrick Marleau and Brent Burns, into an empty net, also scored for the Sharks (4-0-0), who beat the Canucks 4-1 in both teams season opener after sweeping Vancouver four straight in the first round of last years playoffs. San Jose, which also won all three meetings during the 2013 regular season, has not lost to the Canucks (3-2-0) since Jan. 21, 2012. "Were just deep, were really, really deep and we want to come at you every night," said Sharks captain Joe Thornton, who along with Logan Couture, added two assists. "We have been doing that early on." The backbreaker was Marleaus goal that made it 3-1 midway through the second period. Despite trailing 2-0 after the first, the Canucks managed to cut the San Jose lead in half with Mike Santorellis fourth goal in three games at 10:20, only to see Marleau score on a one-timer just 95 seconds later. "No matter what happened or where we struggled, we crawl back into it (at) 2-1. We need to at least play with that for a little bit and not get scored on so quickly," said Canucks coach John Tortorella. "Really that was a gimme. We were just too slow. We turn it over when we dont need to and then we dont react defensively after the turnover." Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo held his team in with 25 stops, but said Vancouver needed a better start. "Obviously the first period hurt us. Weve made comebacks the last couple of games but against good teams like that its tough to get out of a hole," he said. "I thought our first period we were a little bit tentative. "Against a team like that you got to play 60 minutes if you want to give yourself a chance." Sharks forward Tomas Hertl, who became the talk of the NHL after scoring four times in Tuesdays 9-2 win over the New York Rangers, was held pointless but was still noticeable as part of a dominant San Jose first line that includes Thornton and Burns. San Jose led 3-1 after 40 minutes and hadd a good chance to extend the lead five minutes into the third, but Luongo kept Vancouver in it with a breakaway stop on Hertl. Matt Forte. The Canucks, who had come back from two-goal deficits against the Calgary Flames and the New Jersey Devils, showed little life until midway through the period. Their new puck-pressure style eventually started to gain a bit of time in the Sharks zone, but they rarely threatened Niemis crease. "Youve got to give them some credit. Theyve got a good team over there, play a great system," said Canucks captain Henrik Sedin. "Youve going to have games like this where you have to win the one-on-one battles and we didnt do that enough." Vancouver pulled Luongo with 3:08 to go in the period, but Burns scored into an empty net with 2:19 to play. "They locked it down pretty well," said Tortorellla, whose team had just six shots in the third. "Its not like were playing against no one out there but we need to have more people going to play against a balanced team like that." Vlasic opened the scoring at 12:16 of the first period by finishing off a nice passing play. The San Jose defenceman took a feed from Burns off the rush in the high slot and snapped a shot blocker side on Luongo. Niemi came up big on a Vancouver power play later in the first, with big stops on both Alexander Edler and Jason Garrison. Luongo then stopped Burns on another good chance before Pelech doubled the Sharks lead with 58 second. The nephew of Vancouver general manager Mike Gillis chipped a pass from behind the Canucks net up into the top corner past Luongo. "It felt awesome," said the 26-year-old, who was playing in just his ninth NHL game. "It was a really good feeling to see that go in." Notes: The teams play twice more this season, Nov. 7 in San Jose and Nov. 14 in Vancouver. ... Santorelli, who scored the winner in the Canucks 3-2 overtime victory on Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils, wasnt credited with the goal Wednesday. The Burnaby, B.C., native is the first Vancouver player to record consecutive OT winners in franchise history. ... The Canucks host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday before heading out on a season-high seven-game road trip. San Jose is home to the Ottawa Senators the same night. ... Canucks right-winger Zack Kassian will be eligible to return to the lineup on Saturday after serving his eight-game suspension (three pre-season, five regular) after breaking the jaw of Edmonton Oilers centre Sam Gagner with a high stick. Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '
