Lakers at Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets pulled themselves out of a funk and are rolling along again with wins in three straight. The Nuggets will try to make it four in a row on Tuesday when they host a Los Angeles Lakers squad making a brief stop on the road before an extended home stretch.
Denver struggled through a stretch of six losses in seven games but picked up the defensive intensity over the last three contests, capped by a 105-98 victory at Oklahoma City on Saturday in which it held the Thunder to 35.9 percent shooting. The Nuggets are making a one-game stop at home to play the Lakers before heading back out for a five-game trip that includes stops at Portland and Toronto. Los Angeles would be working on a nine-game winning streak right now if it could find its way around the Magic, who knocked off the Lakers 130-117 in Orlando on Nov. 17 before coming to Los Angeles and earning a 108-104 triumph on Sunday. "Disappointing loss," Lakers coach Luke Walton told reporters after Sunday's setback. "We gotta get back to valuing the basketball. I thought we played well enough in the first half to have a good-sized lead ... we had 14 turnovers at the half."
TV: 9 p.m. ET, NBATV, Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (11-8): The Lakers finished with 18 turnovers in Sunday's setback and superstar forward LeBron James addressed the reasons. "Some of them are being too unselfish, including myself," James told reporters. "I'm making some passes where I have a small window, seeing guys where I should probably hold onto it. A lot of (the turnovers) are unforced. Some of them are attack turnovers. We've got to do a better job of that. We haven't taken care of the ball the last two games." James totaled 11 turnovers in the last two contests and is averaging 3.5 while trying to mold his new team into a playoff contender.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (13-7): Denver small forward Torrey Craig stepped into the starting lineup in place of injured guard Gary Harris on Saturday and made an immediate impact on the defensive end against Oklahoma City star Russell Westbrook. "Torrey Craig was sensational tonight," Nuggets coach Michael Malone told reporters. "I love the fact that he took on the challenge of guarding one of the more unguardable guys in the NBA. As I just told the team, we had every reason to make an excuse for tonight's game. Three games in four nights, back-to-back, Gary's not playing. I said, 'We don't make excuses, we find ways.'" Craig grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds while collecting eight points, two blocks and a steal in the victory.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Lakers PG Lonzo Ball grabbed double-digit rebounds in each of the last two games.
2. Harris (ankle) left Friday's win over Orlando before getting Saturday off and is day-to-day.
3. James recorded 28 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in a 121-114 home win over Denver on Oct. 25.