Nuggets at Raptors
DeMar DeRozan is one of the leading scorers for the Toronto Raptors, but apparently it is his defense that the team misses the most. The Raptors will try to hold an opponent under 100 points for the first time since DeRozan went down with a groin injury when they host the Denver Nuggets on Monday. Including the game on Nov. 28 in which DeRozan was injured, Toronto has lost three of five while allowing an average of 110.6 points.
The Nuggets won seven of eight to get above .500 at 9-8 but have since dropped three straight as their offense struggles. Denver scored 101 or more points in eight straight games but failed to reach 90 in losses at Washington and Atlanta in the first two stops of a three-game trip. Wilson Chandler scored a season-high 29 points and Timofey Mozgov added 14 at Atlanta on Sunday but the rest of the starting five went 6-of-26 from the field in a 96-84 setback.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, Altitude (Denver), TSN2 (Toronto)
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (9-11): Denver added forward Kenneth Faried to its growing injury list with a lower back strain and he sat out Sunday’s setback. J.J. Hickson moved into the starting lineup in Faried’s spot and hauled in nine rebounds but contributed only four points on 1-of-6 shooting while leaving the second unit without its primary rebounder. Ty Lawson found his way to 10 assists on Sunday but managed only four points on 1-of-10 shooting to end a string of seven straight double-doubles.
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (15-5): Toronto suffered its worst loss of the season in a 105-91 home setback to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday and got its only positive sign from Amir Johnson, who posted a season-high 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting. "I feel like I have a little bit more bounce since I hurt myself in Orlando and it's a process," Johnson told reporters. "It's slowly getting better and better. Even though I'm still taking beatings, I feel good." Johnson was hurt on Nov. 1 and missed three games before slowly working himself back into shape and is 37-of-57 from the floor in the last six contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Nuggets went 6-of-35 from 3-point range on Sunday and Danilo Gallinari missed all three of his from beyond the arc to drop to 2-of-15 over the last four games.
2. The road team took each of the two meetings last season, with Denver claiming a 112-98 win at the Raptors on Dec. 1, 2013.
3. Toronto G Kyle Lowry has scored 22 or more points in five straight games.