Nuggets at Clippers
THE STORY: Denver has had little to be happy with this month, but the Nuggets were thrilled with a 103-101 overtime win against Minnesota on Monday. Denver will try to extend the Clippers’ losing streak to three games Wednesday at Los Angeles. The Nuggets are battling injuries throughout the lineup and could be without Nene (calf injury), Danilo Gallinari (ankle), Rudy Fernandez (back) and Ty Lawson (ankle). The Clippers fell at Golden State 104-97 on Monday for their second consecutive loss.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Altitude (Nuggets), Prime Ticket (Clippers)
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (18-15): Help could be coming for the depleted Nuggets. They could see the return of former forward Wilson Chandler. He watched Monday’s game with Nuggets executive Masai Ujiri. Chandler is playing in China, but must await his team’s approval as well as clearance by FIBA, the governing body. “Hopefully we get something done,” Chandler said. “Watching (the NBA) on TV and coming to the game today, it makes you miss it.” Also helping would be more efforts like the one sixth man Al Harrington provided, scoring a season-high 31 points.
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (19-11): Chris Paul took much of the blame for Monday’s loss at Golden State, and is eager to avoid the first three-game losing streak since signing with the Clippers. He noted that despite the Nuggets’ struggles, they beat the Clippers by 21 at Staples Center on Feb. 2. “I think it's great that we're mad about losing. I think that's a good thing,” Paul said. “The bad part about that is that we did lose. So we've got to correct some things and we've got to come out tomorrow night and give a good showing against Denver. We owe those guys.”
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. The Clippers are 5-14 in their last 19 games against the Nuggets and have not won a season series since 2005-06.
2. The Nuggets are 10-1 this season and were 28-1 in 2010-11 when outrebounding and outshooting the opposition in the same game.
3. In their 112-91 victory Feb. 2, the Nuggets outshot the Clippers 65 percent to 37 percent from the field in the third quarter to pull away after trailing by 13 in the first quarter.