The Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers will meet tonight in an NBA 2014 game that will be live streaming online free from the Moda Arena at 10:30 PM ET.
The Blazers suffered a disappointing end to a challenging road trip after an impressive beginning.
Returning home to face the defensively averse Nuggets should provide the league's highest-scoring team a good opportunity to bounce back.
Portland looks to avoid losing a third straight game for the first time this season as it faces Denver on Thursday night.
The Trail Blazers (31-11) started their trip -- four games against teams among the Western Conference's top seven -- with wins in San Antonio and Dallas before falling in Houston and Oklahoma City on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. It marked their third set of back-to-back losses in just over three weeks after not suffering consecutive defeats through their first 29 games.
Tuesday's 105-97 loss to the Thunder also cost them first place in the Northwest Division. Portland lead for a majority of the contest but gave up 11 of Kevin Durant's 46 points in the final 3:23.
Durant's big performance was likely more a credit to him than a matter of poor defense from Portland. The Thunder forward came in having scored at least 30 in seven straight contests.
"When the basket is an ocean, you can't really do much about it," Matthews said. "He's been on a roll."
LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 29 points and 16 rebounds but struggled in the fourth quarter, going 1 of 8 from the field. Damian Lillard had 14 points -- more than seven below his average -- and is just 6 of 24 from 3-point range over his last four contests. He's among the league leaders at 43.0 percent from beyond the arc.
A five-game winning streak provided some optimism for the Nuggets (20-20), but they've since dropped three of four and two straight. Tuesday brought another setback with Danilo Gallinari undergoing a second operation on his left knee, ending any hope that he would be able to play this season after tearing his ACL in April.
The Nuggets miss the 16.2 points per game Gallinari provided last season, but defense has been their downfall lately. Their last four opponents have averaged 117.0 points while shooting 49.1 percent.
Denver let Phoenix shoot 50.5 percent in a 117-103 road loss Sunday.
"We score enough points," said Ty Lawson, who had 17 points and 14 assists for his fourth straight double-double and ninth in 10 games. "No defense."
Lawson is averaging 19.9 points on 51.2 percent shooting in his last eight games versus Portland.
Aldridge has averaged 25.2 points in his past five matchups with Denver.
The Trail Blazers had won six straight home meetings prior to a 111-109 loss Feb. 27.
The game will be broadcast live nationally on the TNT television network and live streamed online at
https://nbaliveonline.tv/streaming/
