The Los Angeles Clippers play host to the Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.

The Nuggets (53-23) grabbed a narrow win over the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday, moving them to the top spot in the Western Conference. They were fortunate that Oklahoma City lost as well because both of their studs were sidelined in that defeat. Denver isn't exactly the most healthy team either, with Jamal Murray missing the last week due to an ankle issue. This team needs their star point guard if they want to make another deep run, but it's impossible to defend the defending champs whenever Nikola Jokic is out there. The big man had 40 points and 16 rebounds in that victory on Tuesday, putting an exclamation mark on another MVP campaign.

The Clippers (47-28) had an ugly showing in their most recent outing, getting blown out by the Sacramento Kings. What really scares fans about that defeat is that Kawhi Leonard sat with knee soreness. It's possible it was just some maintenance late in the season, but hearing any sort of knee injury for a guy like Kawhi is horrifying. He's quietly been one of the best players in the NBA, and this club won't get far without him. That was clear on Tuesday when they trailed by 27 points at times in their blowout defeat against the Kings. James Harden made just one shot in that game, which is unacceptable since Kawhi was sidelined. They did get 20 points from Russell Westbrook off of the bench, but it needs to be a team effort if this team wants to win without Leonard.

This is the fourth and final matchup between these teams, with Denver winning two of three. The Nuggets have won eight of their last nine games over the Clippers in total.