The Denver Nuggets (34-20) were rolling before they ran into a skid in their last two games with a pair of second-half letdowns in their last two games heading into tonight’s matchup with the Miami Heat (28-25). The Nuggets had ripped off eight straight wins as they were pushing up the Western Conference standings. Meanwhile, since the trade deadline and getting relatively healthy, the Heat are 6-2 with the eighth-best net rating in the NBA despite prized acquisition Victor Oladipo only playing in four of the team’s nine games.
Denver is 8-2 in their last 10 games with those two losses coming in their last two games against the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors where they were outscored 31-8 in the final quarter against Boston before getting blasted by 21 points in the third quarter of the loss to Golden State that was eventually overshadowed by the knee injury sustained by Jamal Murray in the final minute of the game that cost him the remainder of his season.