Washington @ Denver preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 31, 2019 ) Washington 95, Denver 90

The Denver Nuggets seek their sixth straight victory when they host the Washington Wizards on Tuesday. Denver has the third-best record in the NBA behind the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks after posting a 116-104 home victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.

The Nuggets are 9-1 over their last 10 games and the defense has been sturdy by holding seven of the opponents to fewer than 100 points. "The defense is always the trigger that ignites our break and how we play," Denver coach Michael Malone told reporters after his club held high-scoring Phoenix guard Devin Booker to a season-low 12 points. Washington is opening a four-game road trip after seeing its offense go missing during Sunday's 113-106 home loss to the Sacramento Kings. “We couldn't get anything to fall for us," Wizards coach Scott Brooks told reporters. "But I thought prior to that, offensively, we were just about half a second too slow on everything - on our rolls, on our extra passing. I thought that led to some bad turnovers because of our spacing. But those are going to happen."

TV: 9 p.m. ET, NBCS Washington, Altitude (Denver)

ABOUT THE WIZARDS (5-9): Washington averaged 130.8 points during a five-game span prior to the loss to Sacramento and shooting guard Bradley Beal tallied only 20 to end his streak of 30-plus games at a career-best five. "The ball just didn't go in," Beal said afterward of the sluggish offense. "It was just one of those nights for us. On nights like (Sunday), we've got to defend, and that's kind of been our Achilles' heel." Point guard Isaiah Thomas scored 17 points and has reached double digits in seven of his past eight games.

ABOUT THE NUGGETS (12-3): Swingman Will Barton scored a season-high 22 points and also had eight rebounds and four assists in the win over the Suns and helped Denver assert control by scoring 12 of the team's 27 points during the third quarter. "I felt like in the first half my energy wasn't there and I wasn't flying around on defense good enough," Barton said afterward, "so I told them I'm going to bring it the third quarter." Power forward Paul Millsap matched his season high of 23 points for the third time this season while point guard Jamal Murray scored 22 for his seventh 20-point effort of the campaign.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Wizards have won four of the past six meetings.

2. Washington F Moritz Wagner had 12 points and 11 rebounds in 19 minutes against the Kings for his second double-double of the season.

3. Denver star C Nikola Jokic scored a season-low eight points against Phoenix but collected 13 rebounds for his ninth double-digit outing on the boards this season.

PREDICTION: Nuggets 114, Wizards 105