Wizards at Nuggets
Nikola Jokic has emerged as a star in his second NBA season and he is headlining Denver's charge toward landing the final Western Conference playoff spot. Jokic is listed as questionable for Wednesday's home contest against the Washington Wizards after missing Monday's win over the Sacramento Kings with an illness.
Jokic posted four consecutive double-doubles — two were triple-doubles — prior to being sidelined by the illness and was 13-of-15 shooting in a 31-point effort in Saturday's 112-102 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. The 22-year-old is averaging 15.9 points and 9.3 rebounds while shooting 58.3 percent from the field for Denver, which is looking for its fifth victory in the past seven games. Washington has won four of its last five games and opened up a five-game road trip with a 131-127 win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. The Wizards have been one of the hottest teams during the past two-plus months with a 22-6 record to move within four games of the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference race.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (38-24): Washington got superb contributions from its backcourt against Phoenix as backup Bojan Bogdanovic matched his season high of 29 points, shooting guard Bradley Beal tallied 27 and point guard John Wall had 25 to go with 14 assists. Bogdanovic, who set a club mark by making all of his 16 free-throw attempts, recently was acquired from the Brooklyn Nets and has scored 27 or more points in three of the past four games while greatly impressing Wall. "I'm always happy to have another guy who can help us," Wall said after the win over the Suns. "One thing Boogey does is he cuts to the basket and puts the ball on the floor. It gives us another weapon who can create for us, and that's big for us. He's coming in playing his role, being aggressive and making a lot of shots."
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (29-34): Forward Wilson Chandler was a force in the victory against Sacramento by scoring a career-best 36 points — knocking down five 3-pointers — while also corralling 12 rebounds. "He got us off to a hot start, and he continued playing at high level throughout the game," Nuggets coach Michael Malone told reporters of Chandler. "Whether it was knocking down 3s, getting to the rim, moving without the basketball, he was phenomenal." Forward Danilo Gallinari fell two points shy of his sixth straight 20-point outing and is averaging 21.3 points during the stretch.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Nuggets won 10 of their past 13 home contests against the Wizards.
2. Beal scored 26 points in Washington's 92-85 home victory over Denver on Dec. 8 — a contest in which the Nuggets committed 29 turnovers.
3. Denver SG Gary Harris scored in double digits in 12 of the past 13 games.