Nuggets at Clippers
The last two opponents for the Denver Nuggets played in another city the night before, making the change in elevation even more difficult for the visitors, but the Nuggets couldn’t take advantage and lost both games. Now it’s Denver's turn to play on tired legs when it takes on the host Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night, 24 hours after losing in overtime to the visiting Washington Wizards. The Nuggets have lost six in a row overall, matching their longest losing streak of the season.
The Clippers also played Sunday but had a few extra hours of rest and somewhat shorter travel after beating the Phoenix Suns by 20 points for their fourth straight victory. The two superstars for Los Angeles, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, played at a high level against the Suns and that was especially a good sign for Paul, who was 19-for-59 from the floor in the previous five games before hitting 7-of-11 shots against Phoenix. He always presents a good matchup for Denver point guard Ty Lawson, who is coming off a 31-point, 12-assist performance against the Wizards but missed an open 13-footer at the end of overtime that would have tied the score.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Altitude (Denver), FSN Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (18-26): Denver beat the visiting Clippers with a solid dose of balanced scoring last month, as seven players reached double figures in the three-point victory. Arron Afflalo, a Los Angeles native, usually gets extra motivated for games at Staples Center and he’ll be hungry for a bounce-back effort after shooting 4-for-17 and scoring 11 points against Washington. Afflalo played 43 minutes Sunday night, however, so his legs might not respond the way he would like when elevating.
ABOUT LOS ANGELES (30-14): Griffin has avoided any drop-offs in offensive production this season, reaching double figures in scoring in every game and scoring at least 15 in all 11 games this month. If there’s an area Griffin has begun to sag it’s in the rebounding department, as he came into Sunday’s game averaging 6.7 rebounds in the previous 10 games and then went out and took seven against the Suns. A main reason for the decline in rebounding has been the rise of teammate DeAndre Jordan, who came into Sunday leading the league in boards at 13.4.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Jordan has made 22 of his last 23 field-goal attempts
2. Los Angeles has won eight in a row at home against Western Conference teams.
3. Lawson is shooting 47.7 percent from 3-point range in 15 career games against the Clippers, his highest percentage against any Western Conference team.