NEW ORLEANS -- Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans found a way to win convincingly, despite an early 17-point hole.

Now they have another substantial hurdle to overcome at a crucial juncture of the season: the loss of guard Eric Gordon to a fractured ring finger on his shooting hand.

Davis scored 35 points, and the Pelicans used a dominant second half to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-99 on Tuesday night for New Orleans' third victory in four games. But Davis wasn't about to absolve his team for the way it started the game.

"That first half was kind of terrible," Davis said. "They were outworking us and playing harder than us, and we just wanted to change that in the second half, so we came out with a lot of energy.

"We kind of played with desperation," he said, "but we can't wait until we're down to start playing with desperation."

Gordon scored 11 points, including two 3-pointers, before leaving late in the third quarter. It isn't clear when his right ring finger will be healed enough for him to play again, but the Pelicans are certain that he'll be missed. Gordon has averaged about 15 points this season and has hit 101 3-pointers.

"He brings a lot to the table," Davis said. "He's shooting the ball well, and it's going to be tough without him, but we've still got to find a way to win."

Jrue Holiday, who could wind up back in the starting lineup because of Gordon's injury, scored 19 points. Tyreke Evans added 13 for the Pelicans, who are now four games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference and play their next six games at home.

Andrew Wiggins scored 21 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 20 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota, which has lost 10 of 11. Ricky Rubio added 15 points, but the Timberwolves were outscored 63-39 in the second half.

Minnesota coach Sam Mitchell said his team's problem in the second half was a lack of ball-movement, as players increasingly looked to score instead of buckling down defensively or creating open shots for teammates. Rubio agreed.

"We started to get selfish," Rubio said. "When we play hard on defense and can run, that is our style of game."

PIVOTAL PERIOD

New Orleans surged to its first lead with a 14-2 third-quarter run that began with a 3 by former Minnesota player Dante Cunningham and ended with Gordon's 3 to make it 65-64.

The Pelicans outscored the Wolves 31-15 in the third quarter, which ended with the Pelicans scoring four points in the final three seconds -- first with Holiday hitting a 15-foot pullup, then with Cunningham stealing Nemanja Bjelica's inbound pass and sprinting for a layup just before the horn sounded.

Minnesota's Gorgui Dieng, standing under the hoop, caught the ball as it came through the net and disgustedly slammed it off the court.

"That was a game-changing momentum-builder for us," Davis said. "It got all of us going and got us off the bench and got us hyped going into the fourth quarter."

Cunningham hit three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points in his 12th start this season.

BURNING OUT

The Timberwolves looked their best in the opening quarter. They raced to their largest lead when Bjelica's tip-in of Zach LaVine's miss made it 38-21.

Towns had nine points and seven rebounds before the period ended.

CLOSE ENCOUNTER

Ryan Anderson was called for a foul late in the first half, despite appearing to take the worst of a collision with Kevin Garnett. Officials reviewed video of the incident, then upheld their initial call as boos rained down from fans who could see the replay showing Anderson's head recoiling from the blow of Garnett's forearm to his face.

"Obviously, he was doing little tactics to get me frustrated," Anderson said. "He's just really good at getting away with stuff like that. I'm not saying he's, like, a ridiculously dirty player. He just has that physical type of game."

TIP-INS

Timberwolves: Reserve center Nikola Pekovic, who did not make his season debut until Jan. 6 because of right Achilles tendon surgery April 8, was given the night off. ... Minnesota was shooting 72.2 percent after the first quarter (13-of-18), but went 23-of-58 (39.7 percent) the rest of the way to finish at 47.4 percent.

Pelicans: Davis has eclipsed 30 points seven times this season, with a season-high of 43, which tied his career high. ... The Pelicans have won six straight against Minnesota.

UP NEXT

The Timberwolves visit Dallas on Wednesday night.

The Pelicans host Detroit on Thursday night.