Trail Blazers at Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets attempt to halt a five-game slide when they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. One of Denver’s losses came against Portland on Sunday, when it succumbed 116-100 as the Trail Blazers knocked down 16 3-point baskets. Portland recovered from a 23-point deficit to post a 102-100 victory over Charlotte on Tuesday as point guard Damian Lillard had 29 points and seven assists and power forward LaMarcus Aldridge had 25 points and 14 rebounds.
Nuggets power forward Kenneth Faried promises a much-tougher effort in the rematch. “I think Wednesday we’re going to be a lot more electrified because we’re tired of losing,” Faried said. “We’re going to do everything in our power to go out there and fight, claw, tooth and nail to get the win. If we can get over this hump we can get out of this drought.” The Trail Blazers have lost both their road games – by nine points to Sacramento and four to the Los Angeles Clippers.
TV: 9 p.m. KGW (Portland), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (5-3): Small forward Nicolas Batum will miss his second straight game but said prior to Tuesday’s game against Charlotte that he was relieved that an MRI exam displayed there is no significant damage in his injured right knee. “We thought it was going to be worse than that when that happened,” Batum told reporters. “The first thing when the doctor saw that, yeah, they were pretty worried. It’s scary.” Batum didn’t travel to Denver with the team and hopes to return for Monday’s home game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (1-5): Denver hasn’t played since Sunday’s loss to Portland, which has given the players and coach Brian Shaw plenty of time to think about it. “I did feel better about this game,” Shaw told reporters. “There are no moral victories but I did feel better with the rotation, with the effort that our guys gave. So we just have to keep chipping away to try and stop the bleeding.” The Nuggets have lost by an average of 12.6 points during their slide, the worst being a 131-109 loss at Sacramento on Nov. 5.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Portland has won five straight overall in the series while the Nuggets have won 23 of the past 27 in Denver.
2. Denver C Timofey Mozgov grabbed a season-best 16 rebounds against Portland on Sunday to raise his average to 6.8.
3. Lillard has made four or more 3-pointers four times this season, including five against the Hornets.