NEW ORLEANS — Evidence of life was detected in the NBA’s most uninhabitable building for a few minutes on Wednesday, as the Pelicans soared to an early 13-point lead over some lethargic tourists from Denver.

More signs were detected a couple of hours later, when the home team sliced a 19-point deficit to six after Nikola Jokic fouled out. Sonar may have even located multiple sources of noise from the cavernous upper deck.

But the Nuggets escaped Smoothie King Center in the end with a 125-118 win, buoyed by a mostly successful night of defense and Peyton Watson’s career-high 32 points.

“Some of the glaring things that we saw in the Portland game, we saw that late in this game,” coach David Adelman said after the Nuggets narrowly survived another team’s press. “So we have to keep watching

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