The Denver Nuggets play host to the Portland Trail Blazers at Pepsi Center on Thursday.

The Trail Blazers (10-15) picked up a blowout victory over the New York Knicks in their last game and it's a promising sign to see this team playing better after a poor start. In fact, Portland has won five of their last eight games heading into this matchup which directly correlates with the Carmelo Anthony signing. The former All-Star is averaging about 16 points and six rebounds per game which is probably more than most people would have anticipated with his long absence. Getting that production out of an empty wing spot has been a huge bump for this team and it's simply way too early to count them out after finishing third in the west each of the last two seasons.

The Nuggets (14-8) have it a bit of a snag, losing four of their last five games heading into this matchup. That poor run actually masked some of the early-season problems, as Mike Malone expressed some frustrations before this poor stretch. He actually said that they have only played one complete game all season long and the recent results are more indicative of how this team is truly playing. The one bit of good news is that many of those came against tough competition, losing to the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers in that span. Those are the caliber of teams that Denver will have to beat in the postseason though and it's better to have those tests behind you than to experience them for the first time in the playoffs. Jamal Murray leaving the most recent game is distressing too and it's unclear what his status is for this fixture dealing with a trunk issue.

This is the second meeting between these teams, with Denver winning the first one in Portland, 108-100, on October 23. That marked the Nuggets seventh win in their last eight regular-season games against the Blazers, despite getting bounced by them in last year's Western Conference semi-finals.