The Denver Nuggets play host to the Golden State Warriors at Ball Arena on Sunday.

The Warriors (41-37) come into this matchup winning five of their last six games. That run has them sitting in sixth place in the west, and they now have a 1.5-game lead on the teams behind them. While there are a ton of teams right beneath them, this team just needs two or three more wins to avoid that dreaded play-in tournament. Their biggest goal is to climb to fourth in the west because that would mean homecourt advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. The home-road splits are more important for this team than any other, with the Warriors posting a 9-29 record on the road and a 32-8 record at home.

The Nuggets (51-26) have suffered two ugly defeats in their two most recent games, but it's clear this club is getting ready for the postseason. They rested Nikola Jokic in both of those and sat almost all of their starters in their loss on Friday. It's the smart decision because the Nuggets have nearly locked up the top seed in the Western Conference. They have the tiebreaker over the Memphis Grizzlies in second and have a three-game lead over them with only five games left in the season. That means just one more win will secure homecourt throughout the postseason, and that's massive for this Denver team. The Nuggets have a 32-7 record at home this year and always benefit from playing at altitude.

This is the third meeting between these teams, with Denver winning both matchups. They have five wins in their last six matchups with the Warriors in this series.