Battle for the eighth seed heats up as Nuggets host Kings

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DENVER — After their 127-119 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Oakland Monday night, the Denver Nuggets are back in the Mile High City trying to chase down the eighth-seeded Sacramento Kings on a back-to-back, who enter Tuesday night’s matchup .5 games up on Denver for the last playoff spot in the West.

Regular season game No. 35 | Denver Nuggets (14-20) vs Sacramento Kings (14-19)

Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado  | 7:00 PM MST | TV: Altitude

Here’s what to watch for:

Statement game

The top seven spots in the Western Conference, for now, look to be locked in for the playoffs this spring. Golden State, San Antonio, Houston, Utah, the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis and Oklahoma City are all at least six games up on the eighth-seeded Sacramento Kings, while Denver is currently just .5 games back of Sacramento for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Denver, along with Portland, New Orleans and Sacramento, are all within 1.5 games of each other, meaning, there could be four teams battling it out for the one remaining playoff spot. With a win Tuesday night, the Nuggets can move into sole possession of the eighth seed, ahead of an idle Portland and New Orleans.

Stopping Cousins

If DeMarcus Cousins was on a sure-fire playoff team he’d garner Most Valuable Player votes for the performance he’s put on this year.

Cousins is currently averaging a mammoth 29.0 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.4 blocks per game, and Nikola Jokic staying out of foul trouble will go a long ways towards deciding Tuesday night’s outcome.

Jokic has been better about accumulating fouls as of late. The 21-year-old is coming off a great game in Denver’s loss in Golden State Monday night – 21 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, and one steal in just 25 minutes, but only picked up two fouls.

Maybe that was because the Warriors don’t have a big man that can hurt Denver in the paint, but never the less, it’s a step in the right direction. Jokic will have to limit his fouls for the Nuggets to top the Kings.

Expect Jusuf Nurkic, like he did against the Warriors (15 points, six rebounds, and four assists in 21 minutes) to play another big role against Cousins. He’ll be able to pose more of a presence defensively than Jokic.