Thunder at Nuggets
THE STORY: The Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets could see a lot of each other in April, beginning with Tuesday’s contest in Denver. The two teams also meet in Oklahoma City on Friday and appear headed for a first-round playoff matchup when the postseason starts in less than two weeks. Oklahoma City is currently the fourth seed in the Western Conference and has a three-game lead over Denver in the Northwest Division and can move closer to clinching the division with a victory on Tuesday. Also at play is home-court advantage should the expected first-round series occur. That’s an important element when you factor in that both teams are immensely better at home than on the road. The Nuggets are currently fifth in the West, 2 1/2 games ahead of sixth-place Portland.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSOK, ALT.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (47-29): Denver has won six straight games, the longest current streak in the NBA. The Nuggets notched an impressive 95-90 road win over the scorching Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. The loss was just the second in the last 19 games for Los Angeles. Danilo Gallinari scored 22 points and Kenyon Martin had 18 points and eight rebounds as the Nuggets improved to 15-4 since trading Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks. Denver is 31-7 at home and has won the last 10 on its homecourt since losing to the Houston Rockets on Feb. 7. The Nuggets visit the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday prior to the rematch in Oklahoma City on Friday.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (50-26): Oklahoma City has lost back-to-back games to the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers. Russell Westbrook had one of his poorest outings of the season in Saturday’s 98-92 loss to the Clippers, scoring nine points on 1-of-12 shooting. It was just the second time all season that Westbrook failed to score in double digits. Kevin Durant scored a team-high 23 points for his 11th straight 20-point outing. Durant scored 44 against Denver on Christmas Day. Forward Serge Ibaka has blocked 22 shots over the last seven games while averaging 14 points and 8.4 rebounds during that span. Oklahoma City hosts the Clippers on Wednesday before seeing the Nuggets again on Friday.
WHO'S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Oklahoma City guard James Harden is averaging 19 points over the last three games. Denver guard Raymond Felton is averaging 16.5 points over the last two games. Westbrook is averaging just 12.5 points and shooting 22.2 percent over the last two games. Nuggets guard J.R. Smith is averaging just seven points and shooting 33.3 percent over the past two contests.
KEY STATISTIC: Durant has a 28.4 average in 13 career games against the Nuggets. However, he had just 22 points on 6-of-18 shooting in this season’s previous meeting in Denver.
SEASON SERIES: The teams have split two games. Oklahoma City notched a 114-106 home win on Dec. 25 and the Nuggets defeated the Thunder 112-107 in Denver on Jan. 19.
KEY INJURIES: OKLAHOMA CITY: None. DENVER: F Chris Andersen (ankle); G Arron Afflalo (hamstring).
LAST WORD: “It helps us a lot as a young team. It helps us build confidence and trust each other and it helps us be grounded when the game is tight at the end. – Denver’s Wilson Chandler on the meaning of Sunday’s victory over the Lakers in Los Angeles.