Los Angeles @ Denver preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 17, 2018 ) Denver 104, L.A. Clippers 109

The Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers are in direct competition for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference right now, though they are two of eight teams tightly clustered from the Nos. 3-10 spots. The Clippers will try to make up a one-game deficit to the Nuggets when they visit Denver on Tuesday.

Los Angeles won eight of its last 11 games to stay in the race in the West and is finally at the end of a seven-game road trip that bridged the All-Star break but so far only saw it drop two of the first six games. The Clippers will get six straight at home starting on Wednesday against Houston and managed to find enough energy to compete down a pair of starters and on the second night of a back-to-back in Friday's 128-117 triumph at Phoenix. The Nuggets are hot as well with wins in seven of the last nine but had a four-game winning streak snapped in a 119-114 loss to Houston on Sunday. "Obviously, I want our offense to stay where it's at," Denver coach Michael Malone told reporters. "But I do know, I don't care what anybody says, for us to win and to win at a high level and to win consistently ... our defense has to find ways to improve."

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT

ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (31-27): Los Angeles has dealt with injuries all season and suffered another blow when shooting guard Avery Bradley was ruled out for an extended period with a sports hernia. "Avery's gonna be out for a little bit," Clippers coach Doc Rivers told reporters. "So, we're just gonna have to figure out how long. Don't know, it could be a week, it could be three weeks, but we don't know yet." Small forward Danilo Gallinari is dealing with a hand contusion that kept him out of Friday's game, and he is questionable for Tuesday against his former squad.

ABOUT THE NUGGETS (33-27): Part of Denver's problem defensively is a tendency to commit personal fouls, and it sent Houston to the line 32 times in Sunday's setback. “We got caught with our hand in the cookie jar quite a few times,” Malone told reporters. “I loved how hard we played, but we just have to play a little bit smarter if you’re going to beat the best team in the NBA. … (James Harden) was killing us with the step-back 3, and then we were fouling him on top of it.” Nikola jokic finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in the loss, missing his fourth straight triple-double by a pair of assists.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Nuggets SG Gary Harris went 2-of-12 from the field on Sunday after going 20-of-34 over the previous two contests.

2. Clippers SF Tobias Harris reached 30 points on Friday for the first time since joining the team at the beginning of the month.

3. Los Angeles snapped a three-game losing streak in the series with a 109-104 home win on Jan. 17.

PREDICTION: Nuggets 120, Clippers 111