Trail Blazers @ Nuggets

Who will WIN this matchup?

Portland Trail Blazers (10-15)

@ Denver Nuggets (14-8)

Current odds:

Portland Trail Blazers: (+240)

Denver Nuggets: (-300)

• The line for this game is Denver by 7 points.

• The Denver Nuggets struggled against top-quality competition in their recently completed road trip and will try to bounce back when they return home to host the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday. The Nuggets began the trip with a win over the Eastern Conference-worst New York Knicks before falling at Boston, Brooklyn and Philadelphia in the final three stops. Denver dropped five of its last six games overall and failed to score more than 102 points in any of those setbacks, culminating in a 97-92 loss to the 76ers on Tuesday. “I think we were definitely fatigued; I think that was a part of it,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone told reporters after the loss. “But I want to give them credit, they did a really good job (on defense) and started switching pick-and-rolls late. We just came up short, but by no means through a lack of effort.”

• The Trail Blazers are fighting out of their own funk and secured a 2-2 homestand by taking advantage of the Knicks in a 115-87 thrashing on Tuesday. “A team that we felt like we should beat on our home floor,” Portland point guard Damian Lillard told reporters. “But I thought our approach and how we came out not looking at it like it was going to be an easy game or nothing like that, we respected our opponent. We did the right things defensively. We executed our defensive scouting report. And offensively, we executed as well as we have in a while, maybe this whole season.”

• Lillard came out on fire in Tuesday’s win and finished with 31 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 8-of-12 from 3-point range, in 29 minutes. “I just think when things go well, I’m the person that people give a lot of credit to and when it doesn’t go well, I’m the first person that they’re going to look at,” Lillard told reporters after the game. “So, I think setting the tone with my actions and the message that we have in our huddles and before games and stuff like that, it obviously needed to be more uptight and sharper where this season, like I’ve never been an uptight person, I’m just like relaxed and I think when we came in today, it was just a level of like focus.” Lillard was 4-of-20 from 3-point range over the previous two contests – losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

• Denver point guard Jamal Murray suffered a trunk contusion in a collision on Tuesday and is day-to-day after X-rays came back negative. Guard Will Barton took over the point guard duties with Murray out and finished with a season-high 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. “Just to be more aggressive, try to score a little more, make more plays for my teammates,” Barton, who will take on the same role Thursday if Murray is unable to go, told reporters of his mindset. “Jamal is a huge chunk of our offense, so I just wanted to take it upon myself just to step up and make plays.”

• Trail Blazers C Hassan Whiteside recorded a double-double in each of the last nine games, including a 15-rebound, 10-block effort against the Chicago Bulls on Nov. 29.

• Nuggets SG Gary Harris is 11-of-30 from the floor over the last three games.

• Denver earned a 108-100 victory at Portland in the first meeting of the season on Oct. 23.