Magic at Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets look to continue their stranglehold on Orlando when
they host the Magic on Tuesday. Denver has won the past five meetings
and nine of the last 13 and enters the contest on a two-game overall
winning streak.
The Nuggets recorded the consecutive wins due to the solid play of forward Danilo Gallinari, who revealed he is playing through a painful bone bruise in his left knee. Gallinari averaged 22.5 points in road victories against Toronto and Philadelphia and is averaging a team-best 17.7 points for the season. The Magic had a five-game winning streak snapped with Saturday's 103-101 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers as a 10-point lead with 5 1/2 minutes to play evaporated. "So many of the losses that we've had this season easily could have been wins," Orlando forward Aaron Gordon told reporters. "But it's a long season and all you can do is try to continue to churn out wins."
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Orlando), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE MAGIC (11-9): Backup guard Victor Oladipo matched his season high of 24 points in the loss to the Clippers but also injured his left knee in the fourth quarter. He banged knees with Los Angeles guard Jamal Crawford and briefly departed but returned a short time later and feels the rest between games will allow him to play against Denver. "When he kneed me, it hurt so bad," Oladipo told reporters. "I don't know what's going on, really, honestly, but I'm feeling a lot better now."
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (8-13): Denver is opening a three-game homestand with a dash of momentum as it tries to keep the season from slipping away before Christmas. Coach Mike Malone lambasted the players at halftime on Saturday when they found themselves trailing the 76ers by seven points and allowed Philadelphia to shoot 60 percent from the field. "Hated our effort, hated our defense," Malone told reporters. "Just not ready to play, for whatever reason. To our credit, in the fourth quarter we finally got our defense in the game."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Magic have lost six consecutive visits to Denver and 11 of their past 12.
2. Nuggets PF Kenneth Faried (ankle) played 22 minutes off the bench on Saturday after missing one game and should be back in the starting lineup against the Magic.
3. Orlando SF Evan Fournier - who played the first two of his four NBA seasons with Denver - is averaging a team-high 16.3 points but has failed to reach double figures in three of the past six games.