Portland @ Denver preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 22, 2018 ) Portland 101, Denver 104

The Denver Nuggets are tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference but would lose a tiebreaker and miss out on the postseason with the way things stand now. The Nuggets can make it easy on themselves by winning their final two regular season games, starting with the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.

Denver visits Minnesota in the regular season finale on Wednesday and is playing some of its best basketball after crushing the Los Angeles Clippers 134-115 on Saturday. "I think overall, offensively, defensively, controlling our turnovers, I think it’s our best overall basketball," power forward Paul Millsap told reporters. "Not necessarily the best offense that we've played all year. Not necessarily the best defense. But to be a really good team you have to have good balance. And I think, especially coming down the stretch, we have good balance on offense and defense. And that’s what we need." The Nuggets stretched their winning streak to five straight with the rout, and all five of those victories came against teams with winning records. The Trail Blazers are still in the driver's seat for the No. 3 spot in the West but dropped their last three while tuning up for the playoffs.

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

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (48-32): Portland could not find a win in Texas over the first three games of its road trip but finishes out the trip in Denver before ending the regular season at home against fourth-place Utah. "We’ve got two games left, one on the road and one at home," All-Star point guard Damian Lillard told reporters after a 116-105 setback in San Antonio on Saturday. "One gives us home court for sure, and if you win these last two -- 50 wins and the three seed. It is getting tight because we have things we can still get done, but for us it’s more about how we’re playing." Lillard scored 33 points in the latest setback after sitting out at Houston on Thursday to rest an ankle injury.

ABOUT THE NUGGETS (45-35): Denver small forward Will Barton led the way with 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting in Saturday's win and is stepping up down the stretch. "I just wanted to be aggressive from the start and put pressure on their defense," Barton told reporters. "Once I did that, I figured out what I could get, whether I was getting to the rim, pull-up jumpers and pull-up threes. Once I got into a rhythm, I just figured out what they were trying to do and tried to exploit it." Barton is averaging 20 points on 51.4 percent shooting, seven rebounds and 4.6 assists during the five-game winning streak.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Trail Blazers C Jusuf Nurkic recorded a double-double in each of the last three games.

2. Nuggets SG Gary Harris (knee) missed the last 11 games but is coming close to a return.

3. Denver took the last two meetings, edging Portland 104-101 at home in the most recent matchup on Jan. 22.

PREDICTION: Nuggets 113, Trail Blazers 106