After winning four straight games on the road just a week ago, the Houston Rockets sat alone in sixth place of the Western Conference.
Since then, they have dropped three straight games, all against conference rivals who are fighting for the final playoff spot — Utah, Phoenix and Denver — to fall back to the eighth seed.
Houston (32-28), in danger of losing its grip on a playoff berth, hosts the seventh-seeded Denver Nuggets to conclude a home-and-home game in Monday’s best game.
The teams played on Sunday at the Pepsi Center, where the Nuggets took the 101-86 victory behind Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson who scored 20 points apiece.
Another loss tonight, and a win for Phoenix, could land the Rockets into the ninth seed. But a win would give Houston the tiebreaker between the teams by virtue of a better conference record.
The remaining schedule does not favor Houston, which will have to play five games in seven nights, all back-to-backs, before concluding the season on April 26 against the Hornets.
They are 20-10 at home, but have lost three consecutive contests at the Toyota Center.
Marcus Camby left last night after just seven minutes due to a sore back. He is also nursing a torn ligament in his left wrist and his status for tonight is uncertain.
Denver (33-27) will look to take the season series after taking two of the first three meetings between the teams.
The Nuggets hold a one-game lead over the Rockets for the seventh seed and trail the Mavericks by 1/2 game for the sixth seed. They hope to win for the fourth time in their last five contests.
They also face a relatively difficult schedule, playing four of the final six games on the road, with five of the games against teams over .500.
Kenneth Faried has notched a double-double in three of his last four contests, averaging 15 points and 11.8 rebounds in that span.
Afflalo has reached his peak in the final month of the season, averaging 19.6 points on 50 percent shooting, including 47.1 percent on 3-pointers.