Wednesday’s game between the host Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks will tip off at 5:30 p.m. ET instead of its originally scheduled time of 7 p.m. ET due to Tropical Storm Nicole.

Doors to the Amway Center will open to fans one hour before tip.

Orlando enters the contest with four losses in its last five games, while the Mavericks have won four straight. Dallas has won six of the last seven meetings between the teams, including a 114-105 victory on Oct. 30.

–Field Level Media

The Denver Nuggets are finding out how to bond early in the season. With a majority of their games on the road, the Nuggets have spent a lot of time together on planes and in hotels.

It hasn’t hurt them in the standings.

Denver is riding a three-game winning streak, including a win at San Antonio Monday night to kick off a four-game trip that continues at the Indiana Pacers Wednesday night in Indianapolis.

The Nuggets overcame 22 total turnovers in the win over the Spurs with keys plays from Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic.

Murray has ramped up his playing time after missing all of last season while recovering from left ACL surgery. He had two crucial assists in the fourth quarter to hold off a San Antonio rally. One was a threaded assist to Aaron Gordon for a dunk and another one to Jokic for an easy basket.

It was a reminder of how effective the two-man game between Murray and Jokic can be.

“I love Jamal,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “I love everything he’s about. Him and Nikola are just like peanut butter and jelly.”

The Nuggets currently lead the NBA in 3-point shooting at 41.9 percent, and a large part of that comes from the play of Michael Porter Jr., who is hitting 49.3 percent from behind the arc. The sharpshooter has played better defense this season, but he was on the bench during crunch time Monday night.

Porter wasn’t upset that he wasn’t in the game.

“Even though I want to be on the floor, it’s whatever coach thinks gives us the best chance to win,” Porter said.

Denver will face a Pacers team that’s on a two-game winning streak and has won four of its last five. Myles Turner was the catalyst in a 129-122 win over New Orleans on Monday night with 37 points and 12 rebounds.

Turner missed the first four games with an ankle injury but has found his groove.

“My biggest thing is just trying to stay healthy and keep my rhythm going,” Turner said. “It was a great individual performance, great team performance. All eyes forward.”

Turner’s production might be needed even more with guard Chris Duarte expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a sprained left ankle suffered Friday night.

Turner knows what he needs to do to help the team.

“Just running the floor, I think that’s big for me,” Turner said. “When I get out there in transition, I know I’m quicker and faster than a lot of these bigs. When I get out there, even if I don’t get the ball, someone on the perimeter is going to get the ball because they’ve got to tag or force help. If I can get myself, my motor going early, everything else feels easier.”

It’ll be a challenge to stop a Nuggets team that is healthier than it has been in the last two years.

–Field Level Media

The Los Angeles Clippers have dominated their roommates, the Los Angeles Lakers, of late and another victory is up for grabs when the two teams meet in their shared downtown building.

The Clippers will take an eight-game winning streak over the Lakers into Wednesday’s second meeting of the season. This time, the Clippers will be the home team after they defeated the host Lakers 103-97 in the season opener.

The Clippers also enter off their best victory of the season when they rallied from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit and used a late 15-0 run to earn a 119-117 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday. The result ended Cleveland’s eight-game winning streak.

Clippers star Kawhi Leonard has missed the last eight games with ongoing issues with his knee, so Paul George has expanded his already large presence. George scored 26 points Monday, including a key three-point play in the final minute that pushed his team in front.

George has averaged 25.0 points per game, but has delivered even more at 31.0 points per game over the last five contests. The Clippers have gone 4-1 in those games to rebound from a four-game losing streak.

Forward Terance Mann has stepped up with his first double-digit scoring games of the season in the last two contests. Mann had a season-best 16 points Monday on 6-of-9 shooting.

“He defended, created offense for himself, created offense for the team and when he’s aggressive it changes our team,” George said. “If we can get T Mann on that level on a nightly basis, he elevates our team.”

Now the Clippers face the Lakers, who they haven’t lost to since July 30, 2020. The Lakers still have a 150-82 advantage in the all-time series.

The Lakers will enter off a 139-116 road defeat to the Utah Jazz on Monday.

Anthony Davis scored 29 points for the Lakers on Monday with LeBron James out because of left foot soreness. The Lakers also were without scoring guard Lonnie Walker IV (illness) and defensive-minded guard Patrick Beverley (illness). Utah shot 55.8 percent from the field.

“It seems like we’ve lost all our defensive intensity, and that’s what’s killing us,” Davis said. “It sucks to be 2-8. We had enough to win this game. We’ve got enough to win every game.”

The Lakers’ Darvin Ham is having a rough start to his coaching career. The Lakers lost their first five games, pulled off consecutive victories, then lost their last three, including two to the Jazz in that stretch.

“It’s not going to always be like this,” Ham said. “We’re going to turn the corner. I didn’t come here to lose. They didn’t bring me here to lose. But there is a process involved where we have to go through tough times.”

Russell Westbrook scored 22 points off the bench for the Lakers on Monday and has averaged 16.3 points per game in nine contests, with three of those as a starter. It would be his lowest points-per-game average since his second season in 2009-10 with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

–Field Level Media

The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder a few days ago without Giannis Antetokounmpo.

When the Bucks take on the Thunder on Wednesday in Oklahoma City, they might be without another one of their primary pieces.

Jrue Holiday, who played a major role in the Bucks’ 108-94 home win over Oklahoma City on Saturday, is listed as doubtful for Wednesday’s game after spraining his right ankle late in Milwaukee’s loss to Atlanta on Monday.

The loss was the Bucks’ first of the season.

Antetokounmpo, who didn’t play Saturday, is listed as probable with left knee soreness.

Holiday had 10 points, 13 assists and six rebounds in Milwaukee’s win over the Thunder.

While Antetokounmpo and Holiday get plenty of attention, Jevon Carter has played a big role in Milwaukee’s hot start as well.

His defensive effort went a long way toward the Bucks holding Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to a season-low 18 points.

“He just can be a pest and kind of bother people,” Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Gilgeous-Alexander has the ball a lot so to have somebody that kind of embraces having to guard all those screens and get into them, we’re fortunate to have Jevon be able to do that.”

The Thunder trailed by as many as 24 in the third quarter but cut it to 10 in the fourth before Brook Lopez and Holiday helped the Bucks put the game away for good.

“That’s what effort does,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. “When you give effort, the game can turn your way and you can benefit from some chance and you can drum up some plays even in the face of adversity and I thought that’s what happened in the second half.

“We just need to apply that to all 48 (minutes).”

While Milwaukee is looking to bounce back from its first loss of the season after a 9-0 start, the Thunder are trying to snap a three-game losing streak.

Daigneault said he was embracing the challenge for a young team facing one of the NBA’s best.

“Playing against the best teams is a great opportunity because it’s the most accurate barometer of where you’re at,” Daigneault said. “Against that team, you have to work to score. They make you work. That’s why they’re a great defense.”

Heading into Wednesday’s games, the Bucks are the NBA’s top defense, with a 101.9 defensive rating — the number of points allowed per 100 possessions.

Budenholzer said the Thunder present plenty of offensive challenge.

“They score so much in the paint, they drive it so hard, they do a good job of kind of slipping screens and creating driving lanes and just driving it in general and spacing the court with five out,” Budenholzer said.

The Thunder are No. 7 at 108.8 in defensive rating, though during their three-game losing streak Oklahoma City has posted a 113.6, dropping on the list.

Wednesday’s game, the final meeting of the season between the teams, is the first of back-to-back home games for the Thunder. That marks their only two home games in an eight-game stretch.

For Milwaukee, it’s the second in a three-game road trip that began with Monday’s 117-98 loss in Atlanta.

–Field Level Media

The Memphis Grizzlies and host San Antonio Spurs will both look to get back on the winning track after last-minute losses when the two Southwest Division rivals square off on Wednesday.

The Grizzlies travel to Texas after a 109-106 loss to Boston at home on Monday. It was the third game in four nights for Memphis, which suffered its first loss in five home contests and had a three-game winning streak snapped.

Memphis was within 107-106 following Desmond Bane’s basket with 3.5 seconds left, but Boston hit two free throws to pad its lead. The Grizzlies then failed to get off a potential game-tying shot when Ja Morant slipped on the final play.

Morant hit for 30 points that included five 3-pointers to pace Memphis. He tallied 14 of his points in the third quarter, when the Grizzlies outscored Boston 31-19 and carried an 85-84 advantage into the final period.

Bane added 19 points for the Grizzlies in the loss, with Dillon Brooks hitting for 13, John Konchar scoring 12 and Brandon Clarke amassing 10 points. Memphis played without center Steven Adams, who was a late scratch after rolling his ankle in the third quarter of Sunday’s victory against Washington.

“Not saying we’re fine with losing, but how we went out and fought no matter what guys weren’t out there was a good sight to see, and really, what we’ve been pretty much doing these last couple seasons,” Morant said.

“Just have to lock in more, make shots tougher, rebound and just continue to play our style of basketball for 48 minutes.”

The Spurs have dropped four straight games, including a home-and-home set with the Denver Nuggets. The most recent setback was on Monday at home, when Keldon Johnson’s 30 points and a career-best 20 points by Tre Jones were not enough to keep San Antonio from falling to the Nuggets 115-109.

San Antonio battled to the end in a game that had 11 ties and 25 lead changes. Johnson’s layup with 4:06 remaining put the Spurs on top for the final time before Denver finished the game with an 11-4 run.

“We had (a season-high) 24 turnovers for 35 (Denver) points and that’s really going to make it difficult to win a game,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said afterward. “That’s how we lost it. But I couldn’t be prouder (of the team). Their execution, their competitiveness — that’s who they have to be night after night. They did a great job. Really good team play.”

Josh Richardson added 22 points off the bench for San Antonio while Devin Vassell racked up 17 points. The Spurs’ defense was much better after losing by 25 at Denver on Saturday, forcing the Nuggets into 22 turnovers.

San Antonio’s six losses this season are by an average of 20 points.

“Everybody was just trying to make plays down the stretch,” Jones said. “We were doing everything we could to give ourselves a chance to win.”

–Field Level Media