Heat at Nuggets
The Miami Heat will be playing their second road game in two nights, this time at altitude, but the Denver Nuggets might still have the heaviest legs when the teams meet Wednesday. The Nuggets lost in overtime Monday night against the Toronto Raptors — their second game in two nights — and four starters logged 44 minutes or more in the five-point loss, their fourth straight. Miami ended a four-game losing streak with a six-point win Tuesday night at the Phoenix Suns.
Denver point guard Ty Lawson has reached double figures in assists in a career-best nine straight games, which is also the longest in franchise history since Mark Jackson went 14 straight games during the 1996-97 season. His options have been limited lately, as Kenneth Faried (back), Nate Robinson (back) and JaVale McGee (left leg) missed the past two games and Randy Foye is out another week or so with a torn quad. Lawson was outplayed by Dwyane Wade when these teams last met in March, but the Nuggets pulled out the surprising victory.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, Altitude (Denver), Sun Sports (Miami)
ABOUT THE HEAT (10-11): The Heat are hoping Luol Deng’s latest scoring surge is for real, and a good performance against the Nuggets — especially when his veteran teammates could be exhausted — would go a long way toward convincing his bosses. He scored 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting and cancelled out P.J. Tucker on the other end in the win against Phoenix. He’ll face a much more offensively adept player in Denver small forward Wilson Chandler, however.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (9-12): Chandler played a team-high 47 minutes in Monday’s game but at 27 years of age shouldn’t have a difficult time bouncing back. He comes in on a roll, having surpassed his 14.7 season scoring average in the last five games, averaging 20 points in that span. Arron Afflalo also is seeing the basket well, scoring a season-high 25 points in Monday’s loss to the Raptors.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Heat are 9-0 this season when leading at the start of the fourth quarter.
2. Miami C Chris Andersen, who was the first D-League player ever recalled to the NBA when the Nuggets brought him up in 2001, has missed the last eight games with an ankle injury but has been seen working out before games.
3. Heat G Mario Chalmers is shooting 17-for-38 from 3-point range in 11 career games against the Nuggets.