Lakers at Nuggets
Two teams long out of the playoff race square off Wednesday when the
Denver Nuggets host the Los Angeles Lakers. Denver is sputtering with
four consecutive defeats and has lost by an average of 16.3 points
during the skid, while the Lakers have lost six of their last seven
contests after suffering a 105-100 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on
Tuesday.
The Nuggets have won two of the three previous meetings this season, with the Lakers’ win coming in Denver on Dec. 30. The Lakers lost consecutive games to the Clippers, while Denver’s last game also was against the Clippers — a 107-92 loss Saturday. The Nuggets are just 17-21 at home and have clinched a losing record on their home floor for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign. The Lakers’ five-point loss to the Clippers on Tuesday was vastly better than Sunday’s performance when they trailed by as many as 43 during a 106-78 loss to their fellow Staples Center tenant.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, TNC SportsNet (Lakers), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (20-57): Los Angeles coach Byron Scott spent time prior to Tuesday’s game clarifying his comments about having players on his team that he “wouldn’t want to be in a foxhole with.” Scott made the comments after consecutive blowout losses to the New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers and the Clippers by an average of 26.3 points. “I thought the last two games, we didn’t come close (to putting in the effort) so that frustration boiled over,” Scott told reporters. “At that particular time, there wasn’t a lot of guys that I would want to be in the foxhole with. I want guys that I know I can go to battle with.”
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (28-49): Point guard Ty Lawson is expected back in the lineup after missing the Clippers’ game due to a right forearm injury. Making matters worse was losing Jameer Nelson during the contest due to a hip flexor and leaving Denver shorthanded. “Ty was a late scratch; we didn’t anticipate that,” interim coach Melvin Hunt told reporters. “And obviously when Jameer went down, those are our two rudders. They make us go, and when those two guys went out, it became a game of survival at that point.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Nuggets have won 12 of their past 17 home games against the Lakers.
2. Lakers G Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points Tuesday and has scored 20 or more points in five of the last nine games.
3. Denver F Wilson Chandler (fever) is questionable.