Cavs hope to change fortunes in Denver

Cleveland plays the fourth contest of a six-game road trip. On Sunday, Zach Randolph scored 16 points and hit two key free throws with 47 seconds remaining as the Portland Trail Blazers edged slumping Cleveland, 89-87, at the Rose Garden.

LeBron James topped all players with 29 points, but only seven of them came after halftime in the loss to the Blazers for Cleveland. The All-Star guard added 13 rebounds in defeat.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas netted 27 points on 10-of-11 shooting for Cleveland, which rallied from an 11-point deficit early in the final quarter before faltering down the stretch.

The Cavaliers are 6-10 on the road this season. They will play Jason Richardson and the Golden State Warriors on Friday and Mehmet Okur and the Utah Jazz on Saturday at the Delta Center in the finale of the current swing.

The Nuggets have won two straight games and play the first of a brief two-game homestand. On Monday, Carmelo Anthony poured in 39 points to lead Denver past the Chicago Bulls, 97-94, at the United Center.

Anthony ended 10-of-24 from the field and was 19-of-21 from the foul line in the win over Chicago for the Nuggets, who have won four of their last five games overall. Kenyon Martin chipped in 22 points and 14 rebounds, while Earl Watson finished with 16 points in the victory.

Denver is 12-8 as the host this season. The Nuggets, who will host the Jazz on Friday, have won three of their last four at the Pepsi Center.

This is the second and final meeting of the season between the clubs. On December 15th, James scored 26 points and Damon Jones added 17 off the bench as Cleveland knocked off the Nuggets, 94-85, at Quicken Loans Arena.

Cleveland has won two of the last three contests in this series ,while the Nuggets have won four of the last six meetings. The Cavaliers have lost six of nine and 11 of their last 15 at Denver.