Heat at Nuggets
After squeaking out a win in Portland without LeBron James on Saturday, the Miami Heat travel to Denver for a showdown with the struggling Nuggets. With James sitting out the big matchup against the Trail Blazers due to a groin strain, Chris Bosh stepped up to hit the game-winning 3-pointer to lift Miami. "These are the kind of moments where you've got to trust each other," Bosh said to the Miami Herald, "I just told (coach Erik Spoelstra), I'm going for the jugular."
Denver moved to a season-high five games over .500 with a Dec. 15 win over New Orleans but has dropped six straight games since to fall to fourth place in the Northwest Division, ahead of only lowly Utah. Ty Lawson told the Denver Post that the effort simply hasn't been there and is a major reason for their current slide. "We get down 10 points and I see everyone's head is down and stuff like that, feeling like we already lost the game," he said. "We just have to come back with a better effort."
TV: 9 p.m. ET, Sun Sports (Miami), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE HEAT (23-7): With James sitting out against Portland, Dwyane Wade regularly sitting out games as part of a scheduled rest routine and several regulars sitting out a recent loss to Sacramento, Miami's intention of keeping its stars well-rested is evident. "We want to get healthy. That's our main thing," James told the Sun Sentinel." James' 25.4 points rank fourth in the NBA, while Wade (19.9), Bosh (16), Michael Beasley (11.2) and Ray Allen (10.5) are also averaging double figures.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (14-15): Coach Brian Shaw recognized that his team is in need of a shift in attitude but disputes the idea that the Nuggets are self-destructing. "I've been on a couple of bad teams and when things go bad, everybody starts pointing the finger and they start splintering," Shaw said. "I haven't seen that, which is encouraging, but our behavior does have to change." Lawson leads Denver in scoring, averaging 17.5 points and his 7.9 assists per game are among the league's top 10.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Miami G Norris Cole is the only Heat player to appear in all 30 games this season.
2. Prior to the current skid, Denver hadn't lost six in a row since December of 2004.
3. Heat G Mario Chalmers has five flagrant fouls on the season, putting him one away from a one-game suspension.