The Houston Rockets will play host to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday at Toyota Center.

After a stretch where the Rockets (47-28) saw themselves win 14 of 16 games with the losses coming by a grand total of three points, the team once again met its match Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks. For the second time this season, Houston got beaten fairly handily by the East's best team and have lost both matchups this season by a combined 21 points. Fortunately for the Rockets, they'll now get to play a team that they have managed to find success against this season. While Houston lost its most recent meeting with the Nuggets (50-23) by 14 points in a tough schedule spot in Denver, it won the first two matchups by a combined 22 points; one of which came on the road. Now, while the Rockets clinching a tiebreaker over the Nuggets will likely have zero impact on playoff seeding with only seven games remaining, Houston does have the opportunity to really shake the confidence of this young Denver squad with a victory Thursday night.

The Nuggets, however, do still have plenty of motivation heading into their showdown in Houston, as they enter Thursday's contest just a half-game behind the Warriors for the top spot in the Western Conference. The NBA schedule makers didn't do Denver as favors, though, as Thursday kicks off a nine-game stretch where the Nuggets have to go up against seven playoff teams from the Western Conference, and a loss to red-hot Houston could put them in some danger. With that, the Nuggets will need all hands on deck, and that is what they'll have for the most part with a clean injury report other than reserve guard Malik Beasley, who is questionable after missing Tuesday's game due to the birth of his child. That game against the Pistons was a scare for Denver, who blew a 25-point first-half lead but still managed to squeak by Detroit, 95-92.