Wolves gameday

8 P.M. at Denver • fsn, 830 am

Preview: Both teams are 1-0 after the Timberwolves recovered from a 16-point deficit and then barely held onto a 9-point lead to beat the Lakers 112-111 in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The Nuggets went to Houston and clobbered the Rockets 105-85 that same night. … The Nuggets have won six of the past eight season series. They've also won 31 of the past 41 games – dating to the end of the 2004-05 season – and that includes 26 of the past 33. … New Nuggets coach Mike Malone spent some time with the Wolves last season. Wolves coach Flip Saunders invited him to travel with the team on a couple of Western trips to be around the game and give his opinions after he had been fired from Sacramento. … Wolves veteran guard Andre Miller played 447 games for the Nuggets over seven seasons (2003-07 and 2011-13) and Nuggets guard Randy Foye played his first three NBA seasons in Minnesota.

Players to watch: Forward Danilo Gallinari had 23 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in the Nuggets' season opener and rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay – the seventh player selected in last summer's draft – nearly had a triple-double in his NBA debut: 17 points, 9 assists and 11 turnovers. … Wolves veteran Kevin Martin scored 23 points off the bench Wednesday. He is one of five players in Wolves history who has scored 20 or more points off the bench in a season opener. Donyell Marshall had 26 points on Nov. 4, 1994; Chauncey Billups 22 on Oct. 30, 2001; J.J. Barea 21 on Nov. 2, 2012; and Ty Corbin had 20 in the first game the franchise ever played, Nov. 3, 1989.

Injuries: Denver F Wilson Chandler (hip) and C Jusuf Nurkic (patellar tendon repair) are out. Andrew Wiggins (back) is probable and C Nikola Pekovic (Achilles) is out.

JERRY ZGODA