Wizards at Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets will try to avoid matching their longest losing streak of the season when they host the Washington Wizards on Sunday night. The Nuggets have allowed an average of 108.2 points in their five-game losing streak and will face a Washington team that scored 119 against them in a 30-point victory Dec. 5. Denver leading scorer Ty Lawson returned to practice Saturday after sitting out Friday’s one-point loss to the Boston Celtics following a charge of driving under the influence.
When the Wizards beat the Nuggets last month, six players scored in double figures for Washington, led by Kris Humphries with 20 points. Humphries hasn’t scored 20 since, however, and hasn’t even reached double digits in the last three games. The Wizards may need more from him against the Nuggets, as this will be the second of back-to-back games and 37-year-old forward Paul Pierce may be feeling a bit heavy-legged, especially with the altitude.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBATV, CSN (Washington), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (29-15): Nene spent his first 9 1/2 seasons in Denver before coming over in a three-team deal that brought JaVale McGee over from Washington during the 2011-12 season. Nene has reached double figures in scoring in a season-high four straight games, averaging 17.7 points in that span while shooting 63.6 percent from the field. He’ll have a 3-inch height advantage against Denver starting power forward Kenneth Faried, who started alongside Nene during the latter’s final half-season with the Nuggets.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (18-25): Another player who is giving opponents problems is 7-foot, 280-pounder center Jusuf Nurkic, who is averaging 6.6 points and 5.7 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per game. He’ll face a stiff test at the outset from Washington center Marcin Gortat, who held the now-traded Timofey Mozgov to six points and six rebounds when these teams met Dec. 5. McGee, Mozgov’s backup in that game, remains sidelined with a leg injury that’s kept him out for most of the last month.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Nuggets have won nine of the last 11 against the Wizards in Denver.
2. Denver G Arron Afflalo needs two 3-pointers to move into a tie for eighth in franchise history for career 3-pointers and is five behind Lawson for seventh.
3. Pierce became the fourth NBA player with at least 2,000 3-pointers in Saturday’s game against the Trail Blazers.