Nikola Jokic had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Paul Millsap also scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and the host Denver Nuggets beat the Brooklyn Nets 101-93 on Thursday night.

Will Barton scored 17 points and Jerami Grant had 12 points off the bench for Denver, which overcame a sluggish first half to win for the fifth time in six games. The Nuggets have trailed at halftime in eight of their 11 games and are 6-2 in those games.

Jarrett Allen had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Kyrie Irving scored 17 and dished out nine assists, and Spencer Dinwiddie also scored 17 points for the Nets, who were held to a season-low in points.

Taurean Prince had 12 points in the first half but missed all seven of his shot attempts in the second half.

Brooklyn finished 8 of 38 from 3-point range and missed its last 19 shots from long range and scored just 32 points in the second half, three less than it had in the first quarter.

The game was tied at 83 early in the fourth quarter when Denver took its first lead since the first quarter on Grant's 3-pointer. Mason Plumlee had a dunk and Barton hit an 18-footer to put the Nuggets ahead 90-83.

Barton increased the advantage to nine, but three layups pulled the Nets within 96-93 and prompted Denver to call a timeout. Jokic's putback and Barton's jumper pushed the lead back to seven with less about 2 1/2 minutes left.

The Nets didn't score for the final 3:31 of the game.

The Nets scored 35 points in the first quarter and led by as many as 16 in the first half before taking a 61-49 lead into intermission.

The Nuggets came out strong in the third quarter, especially at the defensive end. Brooklyn hit just 5 of 23 shots and missed all seven of its 3-point attempts in the period and was outscored 30-18 to head into the fourth quarter tied at 79.

--Field Level Media