Field Level Media - Professional sports content solutions | FLM

Riding an eight-game winning streak, the Denver Nuggets return to action, rested and ready for the last 27 games of the regular season. The Charlotte Hornets aren’t as fresh for Thursday night’s matchup in Denver.

Charlotte was in action Wednesday in the first NBA game since All-Star weekend and will face a Nuggets team that hasn’t played in a week. The Hornets come in with momentum, though, after knocking off the Lakers in Los Angeles 100-97.

Wednesday’s game was originally scheduled for Jan. 9 but was postponed due to the wildfires in the Los Angeles area. It also meant that Mark Williams faced the team he was dealt to at the trade deadline, only to have it rescinded when he failed a physical.

Wednesday was his first game since the aborted trade. He had 10 points and nine rebounds in 29 minutes.

“I mean, it’s crazy,” Williams said before the game. “Your mind has to shift from you got traded, you’ve got to go to L.A. and then you’ve got to shift back from you’re not going to L.A. So, it’s definitely different.”

Before Wednesday night, the Hornets struggled over the last month, losing 11 of 13 and falling out of the postseason hunt. Charlotte doesn’t have a player who has appeared in all 53 games this season, which doesn’t help continuity.

The Hornets are led by LaMelo Ball, who went into the All-Star break averaging 27.3 points and 7.2 assists. Brandon Miller is second in scoring (21.0), followed by Miles Bridges (19.5) and Williams (15.6).

Thursday night will be the teams’ second and final meeting. Visiting Denver won the first meeting 107-104 on Feb. 1 behind a triple-double from Nikola Jokic. The victory was the second in the Nuggets’ current winning streak that has vaulted them into third in the Western Conference.

After an uneven start to the season — Denver was 11-10 — the Nuggets have played well despite dealing with injuries.

Russell Westbrook has missed the last seven games with a hamstring strain, Michael Porter Jr. sat out the last three games due to hamstring tightness and Aaron Gordon has missed a total of 23 games, mostly due to a right calf strain.

That has forced coach Michael Malone to use different starting lineups, and he’ll have decisions to make with Westbrook, Porter and Gordon listed as probable to play Thursday night.

“All I’ll say is that it’s great to have options,” Malone said Wednesday. “We have a healthy team, and obviously, Russell Westbrook’s done great things for us. Christian Braun, this last eight-game stretch, is playing just incredible basketball.”

At 15 points a game, Braun is one of six Denver players averaging double figures in scoring. Jokic leads the way with 29.8 points, 12.6 points and 10.2 assists per game, which puts him in the top five in the NBA in all three categories.

Jamal Murray (21.0) and Porter (19.0) are next in scoring and Westbrook is averaging 13.0 ppg.

–Field Level Media