Denver halted one losing streak on the road in its last outing and will now try to stop its longest skid at home in nearly a decade when they play host to the Phoenix Suns.
Ty Lawson scored 27 points on Saturday to lead the Nuggets to a 113-109 win over the Pacers on Saturday, snapping a four-game hiccup for George Karl's club.
Denver had five scorers in double figures, including 23 points from Arron Afflalo and 19 from Corey Brewer, who returned to the lineup after a three- game absence due to the death of his father
"It was a great win for us. Obviously Ty [Lawson] was spectacular the whole night," said Karl. "We got back to being a solid offensive team, passing the ball and spacing well."
The Nuggets have dropped five straight at the Pepsi Center and are an uncharacteristic 7-7 as the home team this season. It's the longest losing streak for Denver in the Rockies since a seven-game slide from Feb. 6-March 2, 2003.
"Our opponents have been coming in here with more energy than us," Afflalo told the Nuggets' website. "It's got to be the opposite. We have to feed off the crowd and take pride in defending our home court."
On the injury front for Denver, leading scorer Danilo Gallinari remains out with a chip fracture in his left ankle while center Timofey Mozgov will miss a sixth straight game tonight with a sprained left ankle. Nene, meanwhile, is listed as day-to-day with a left calf strain.
The Suns, meanwhile, dipped to 1-1 on a three-game road trip in Oakland on Monday, falling to the Golden State Warriors, 102-96.
Marcin Gortat paced Phoenix in that one with 25 points and 12 boards, while All-Star Steve Nash had seven points and handed out 14 assists. The Suns, who opened up a grueling back-to-back-to-back stretch last night, had won four of five coming in. Channing Frye added 18 points in the loss.
"We didn't execute, we didn't come up and we didn't make shots," Suns head coach Alvin Gentry said. "In order to beat a team on the road, especially a team when they turn the defense up, you've got to be able to execute."
Phoenix will finish its three games in three nights stretch at home versus Atlanta on Wednesday.
Denver has won seven of the last eight games in this series played at Pepsi Center.
