Gameday preview: Wolves at Denver

7 P.M. AT DENVER • PEPSI center • ESPN, 830-am

Preview: Coming off Wednesday's one-sided victory over Cleveland, the Timberwolves — the second-highest scoring team in the league — get some national TV exposure. They will be looking to even their road record against a Denver team that beat the Lakers in L.A. on Wednesday.

Players to watch: Wolves F Kevin Love is second in the league in scoring (27.2). He had 33 Wednesday. PG Ricky Rubio is coming off a career-high 16 assists against Cleveland and has 40 his past three games. SG Kevin Martin missed Wednesday's game because of flu-like symptoms, but he was at practice Thursday and is full-go for Friday's game. For Denver, the return of F Wilson Chandler from a hamstring injury is big news. He had 12 points and five rebounds vs. the Lakers. G Ty Lawson leads the team in scoring (21.3) and assists (7.3). Kenneth Faried is nearly averaging a double-double (10.6 points, 9.1 rebounds).

Numbers: The Wolves lead the league in first-quarter scoring (33.6 points on 52.2 percent shooting) through nine starts. Wolves opponents are averaging 18.2 free throws per game, second fewest in the NBA.Injuries: The Wolves expect G-F Chase Budinger to return from Florida this weekend so they can monitor his recovery from October knee surgery here. Nuggets F Danilo Gallinari (knee surgery) and C JaVale McGee (stress fracture) are out.