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NBA: Nuggets try to stay hot against flailing Raptors

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Field Level Media/Reuters

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style="background-color:#F4F4F4;height:12.5px;transform:rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px);width:12.5px;flex-grow:0;margin-right:14px;margin-left:2px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(9px) translateY(-18px)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:8px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:20px;width:20px"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:2px solid transparent;border-left:6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom:2px solid transparent;transform:translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"><div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"> </div></div></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"> </div></div><div style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CMymw3BgQir/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Denver Nuggets (@nuggets)</a></div></div></blockquote><div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>The Toronto Raptors will try to stop a nine-game losing streak when they play the visiting Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night in Tampa.</p><p>The Nuggets have won nine of their past 11 games after defeating the host Orlando Magic 110-99 on Tuesday night to open a three-game road trip.</p><p>Nikola Jokic had his 12th triple-double of the season for the Nuggets with 28 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. Jamal Murray added 21 points for the Nuggets, who will be trying for a franchise-record seventh straight road victory on Wednesday.</p><p>The Nuggets had a 24-point, third-quarter lead evaporate to five early in the fourth quarter against the Magic.</p><p>&quot;We lost the focus, we lost the way, how we play,&quot; Jokic said. &quot;We were not aggressive at all.&quot;</p><p>That came after holding a 22-point lead at halftime.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s funny, at halftime, I was telling our coaches how we played a great first half ... and I was nervous as hell,&quot; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.</p><p>His fears were justified when the Magic cut the lead to five points.</p><p>&quot;When teams make a run, they make it interesting, you know you have a player in Nikola Jokic that you can play through,&quot; Malone said.</p><p>The Raptors have the longest current losing streak in the NBA after falling 117-99 to the host Houston Rockets on Monday. The Rockets had lost their previous 20.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/03/24/21/nba-76ers-blow-24-point-lead-rally-to-beat-warriors">NBA: 76ers blow 24-point lead, rally to beat Warriors</a></li></ul><p>&quot;It ain&#x27;t no secret, we&#x27;ve got to play defense and we&#x27;ve got to play better,&quot; Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said after the game Monday. &quot;It&#x27;s literally no secret to it, like I swear. I wish I could give you guys some other magical answer, but it&#x27;s literally no Groundhog Day. Every game&#x27;s different and we&#x27;re just not playing hard enough and we&#x27;re not playing well enough.&quot;</p><p>OG Anunoby was given a rest and did not play Monday. He is expected to return Wednesday.</p><p>Toronto had not lost nine straight games since they dropped 13 in a row Jan. 12-Feb. 2, 2011.</p><p>&quot;I don&#x27;t know any different than to go to work when you&#x27;re trying to dig yourself out of a hole,&quot; Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. &quot;So, we&#x27;ll continue to do that and squeeze practices in when we can and any other walk-throughs, any drill work we can do to try to get our chemistry back and get our connectivity back because, with this team, they&#x27;ve shown they can do it.&quot;</p><p>Opponents are averaging 119.8 points and shooting 49.0 from the field over the past nine games. The Raptors also have been outrebounded 455-339 during the streak, an average deficit of 12.9 rebounds per game.</p><p>&quot;For whatever reason, the defense is not what it needs to be,&quot; Raptors guard Fred VanVleet said. &quot;We just have to keep staying together, stay locked in and understand there&#x27;s a lot of basketball in front of us, but there definitely needs to be a big change or improvement to our defensive focus and intensity and attention to detail.&quot;</p><p>The Raptors denied on Tuesday a report by The Athletic that said Pascal Siakam had been fined $50,000 for &quot;directing several heated choice words&quot; toward Nurse after the loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. The team did not deny that an exchange took place and indicated that they are still investigating.</p><div><strong>--Field Level Media</strong></div><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVES</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GC-6G6t5SIw?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>The Toronto Raptors will try to stop a nine-game losing streak when they play the visiting Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night in Tampa.</p>

The Toronto Raptors will try to stop a nine-game losing streak when they play the visiting Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night in Tampa.