Nuggets @ Spurs

Who will WIN this matchup?

Denver Nuggets

@ San Antonio Spurs

Current odds:

Denver Nuggets: (+130)

San Antonio Spurs: (-150)

• The line for this game is Spurs by 3 points.

• The Denver Nuggets are in solid position to win a playoff series for the first time since 2009. Denver holds a 3-2 lead over San Antonio in the best-of-seven series as it visits the Spurs on Thursday for Game 6 of the Western Conference first-round matchup. Second-seeded Denver won the past two games, including a Game 4 win that halted a 14-game losing streak in San Antonio, but is well aware eliminating the Spurs will be no easy task. “A close-out game is the hardest game that many of our young players will ever play in, especially against a team like San Antonio,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone told reporters.

• The seventh-seeded Spurs are looking to avoid their second consecutive first-round exit and will have to put up a better effort than they did in Game 5, when they trailed by as many as 30 points in the 108-90 road loss. “We want to win two straight,” San Antonio guard Bryn Forbes told reporters. “That’s our goal, to play the best two games we can put together and try to win these next two.”

• All-Star center Nikola Jokic has four double-doubles – including one triple double – during a strong playoff debut that has seen him average 19.6 points, 11.6 rebounds and nine assists in the series. “You hear everybody talk about these other players, rightfully so,” Malone told reporters. “The league is filled with great players. What Nikola Jokic is doing in his playoff debut has not happened very often in the history of this game. … I hope this playoff crowd, this national TV audience that people are tuning in and watching us and saying, ‘Man, this kid Nikola Jokic is real.’ We know it and it’s about time everyone else realizes it.” Point guard Jamal Murray appears to have set aside his shooting issues from earlier in the series and he is averaging 23.5 points over the past two games to raise his average to 18.8.

• Second-year point guard Derrick White struggled the past two games – averaging 10 points on 8-of-19 shooting – after his career-best 36-point outing on 15-of-21 shooting in Game 3. White said he is learning with each postseason game -“consistency is such a big thing,” he said – but both the 24-year-old and coach Gregg Popovich know time is running out. “He’s basically a young kid who’s feeling his way,” Popovich told reporters. “Playoffs are different than the regular season. And he’s growing and every night is an education, whether he plays poorly or whether he’s great. So, he’s a willing young man, going to have a great future. But he’s got to have this kind of experience. So, hopefully he’ll bounce back on Thursday.”

• Spurs SG DeMar DeRozan averaged 18 points in the back-to-back setbacks, dropping his team-best series average to 22.0.

• Denver backup SG Will Barton scored 17 points in Game 5 and is averaging 14.5 over the past two games.

• San Antonio C Jakob Poeltl scored 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting in Game 5 and is 18-of-27 in the series.