Los Angeles @ Denver preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 6, 2019 ) Denver 115, L.A. Lakers 99

The top two teams in the Western Conference meet Tuesday when the Los Angeles Lakers visit the Denver Nuggets. Both teams enter the showdown coming off a loss as the Lakers had a 10-game winning streak halted by the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday and the Nuggets blew a 17-point halftime lead while suffering an overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.

Luka Doncic-led Dallas posted a 114-100 victory over the host Lakers and power forward Anthony Davis insisted afterward that his club isn't about to endure a skid. "Our whole thing is we don't want to lose two in a row, ever," Davis told reporters. "There's definitely going to be a bounce-back game. We want to make sure we correct everything we did poorly, especially rebounding." Denver had a six-game winning streak end with the 100-97 setback to the Kings, a loss magnified by point guard Jamal Murray's failure to get a shot off at the end of overtime after having one blocked at the conclusion of regulation. "We didn't get a shot off either time," Denver coach Mike Malone said after the setback. "Obviously, I have to do a better job in terms of helping us with that late game execution."

TV: 9 p.m. ET, Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles), Altitude (Denver)

ABOUT THE LAKERS (17-3): Davis produced 27 points and 10 rebounds and James recorded 25 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and four steals against the Mavericks, who outscored the Lakers 35-17 in the third quarter to take control of the contest. "We didn't really have an offensive pop the whole quarter, coming out of halftime," Los Angeles coach Frank Vogel told reporters. "We've been really sharp and really consistent, but during that stretch we weren't, and it cost us the game." The Lakers also committed 17 turnovers, with six of the miscues coming from James.

ABOUT THE NUGGETS (13-4): Shooting guard Gary Harris scored a season-best 25 points against Sacramento, with 18 coming in the first quarter. "Gary Harris got off to a great start, made shots and was attacking the basket," Malone said afterward. "Once he saw the ball go into the net a couple of times, he started shooting into a bigger basket. That was great to see." Star center Nikola Jokic is in a scoring slump with three straight single-digit games and had seven points on 3-of-11 shooting against the Kings after being limited to eight in each of the previous two games.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Lakers have lost eight of their past 10 visits to Denver.

2. Nuggets PF Paul Millsap is averaging six points and 2.5 rebounds over the past two games.

3. Los Angeles F Kyle Kuzma (ankle) struggled against Dallas by scoring just four points on 1-of-8 shooting over 21 minutes.

PREDICTION: Nuggets 114, Lakers 109