Houston @ Denver preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 28, 2019 ) Denver 85, Houston 112

The Houston Rockets look to stretch their winning streak to nine games when they visit the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday. Houston won its past two games against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Portland Trail Blazers by an average of 22 points.

Rockets star guard James Harden scored at least 36 points in each game of the winning streak and is putting up an average of 42.1 during the stretch. Harden scored 36 in Monday's 132-108 rout of the Portland Trail Blazers while point guard Russell Westbrook contributed 28 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his 141st career triple-double. Denver is opening a four-game homestand and is also looking for improvement against Houston after losing 10 of the previous 11 meetings. The Nuggets won their past two contests, including notching their highest point total of the season in Sunday's 131-114 road win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston), Altitude (Denver)

ABOUT THE ROCKETS (11-3): Harden is averaging an NBA-best 39.2 points per game and Westbrook cautioned about taking his running mate's scoring prowess for granted. "I think that a lot of people like to normalize greatness when you see it over and over again," Westbrook told reporters. "But it's not normal because there's no one else that can do it. If it was normal everybody would do it. He's put himself in a position to one of the best scorers of all time." The triple-double was Westbrook's third of the season as he continues to mesh with Harden since being acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder in the offseason.

ABOUT THE NUGGETS (9-3): Point guard Jamal Murray established season bests of 39 points and seven 3-pointers in the victory over Memphis, which featured Denver shooting 55.1 percent from the field and knocking down 18-of-32 3-point attempts. It was a welcome sight to have Murray's shots slithering through the net after he was 1-of-11 shooting while scoring a season-worst four points against the Brooklyn nets in the club's previous game. "I had a feeling he was going to come out not only being aggressive, but shooting the ball at a high level," Nuggets coach Michael Malone told reporters. "He's too good of a shooter to continue shooting the way he had been recently."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Rockets went 3-1 against the Nuggets last season.

2. Denver PF Paul Millsap matched his season high of 23 points against Memphis and reached double digits in six straight contests.

3. Houston C Clint Capela recorded 22 points and 20 rebounds against Portland and has exactly 20 boards in each of the past four games.

PREDICTION: Nuggets 114, Rockets 112