LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nikola Jokic scored 34 points and Michael Porter Jr. added 24 as the Denver Nuggets used a strong second half to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 127-102 on Saturday night.

Russell Westbrook had 14 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for Denver against his former team.

Austin Reaves scored 19 points and LeBron James added 18 for the Lakers, who lost consecutive home games after starting the season 7-0 at home. Rui Hachimura, back in the starting lineup after missed the previous five games with a left ankle sprain, scored 10 points in 22 minutes.

It was the teams' first meeting since the Nuggets beat the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs earlier this year. Denver also swept them in the Western Conference final the previous year.

Denver trailed by six points at halftime but outscored Los Angeles 37-15 in the third quarter and 70-39 for the second half while dominating inside and outside.

Takeaways

Lakers: The Lakers led 63-57 at halftime and let the game get away from them in a lackluster third quarter. It shows they still have much work to do to get out from Denver’s control.

Nuggets: Even in playing on the second of a back-to-back and traveling, Denver still had the legs for long-range shots. Denver was 16 for 32 on 3-pointers.

Key moment

Westbrook had a putback dunk at the end of the third quarter to put the finishing touches on an authoritative quarter and extend the lead to 94-77. Westbrook then twirled his arms around emphatically in celebration as he ran back down the floor.

Key stat

The Nuggets outscored the Lakers 20-4 in the paint in the third quarter.Jokic had nine points in the pivotal third in which Denver scored 37 points.

Up Next

Nuggets host the New York Knicks on Monday, and Lakers visit Phoenix to open a road back-to-back.

Drouin scores his first 2 goals of season, Avs beat slumping Panthers 7-4

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Jonathan Drouin got his first two goals of the season, Mikko Rantanen had a goal and three assists and the Colorado Avalanche beat the slumping Florida Panthers 7-4 on Saturday night.

Drouin was playing for only the fifth time this season. He missed 16 games with an upper-body injury.

Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and two assists for Colorado, which got a four-goal second period — with scores from Drouin, Rantanen, Logan O’Connor and Samuel Girard. Oliver Kylington also scored for the Avalanche, who improved to 3-0-0 on their four-game road trip.

Cale Makar and Devon Toews had two assists apiece for Colorado.

Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe and Anton Lundell scored for Florida, which has dropped five of its last six games. Matthew Tkachuk and Mackie Samoskevich each had two assists for the Panthers.

Takeaways

Avalanche: Nathan MacKinnon played in his 812th game, one shy of matching Michel Goulet for the fourth-most in franchise history. Joe Sakic (1,378), Milan Hejduk (1,020) and Adam Foote (967) are the only players with more for the franchise (which started as the Quebec Nordiques).

Panthers: Reinhart now has a point in 13 consecutive games, tying himself, Jonathan Huberdeau and Pavel Bure for the second-longest streak in Florida history. Mike Hoffman had a 17-game streak for the Panthers in the 2018-19 season.

Key moment

Florida got 56 seconds of five-on-three hockey after Josh Manson was called for hooking Barkov with 15:54 left. Florida appeared to score 11 seconds later, only to have it waved off for goaltender interference against Tkachuk. Florida challenged the call, lost and Samoskevich went to the box for the ensuing delay penalty.

Key stat

Makar now has 100 multi-point games in his career.

Up next

Avalanche: Visit Tampa Bay on Monday.

Panthers: Host Washington on Monday.