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Nuggets look to take advantage of Mavericks woes

Mar 27, 2008 - 1:26 PM Dallas (45-26) at Denver (43-28) 8:00 pm EDT

DENVER (Ticker) - The Denver Nuggets playoff chances may have improved with the injury of Dallas Mavericks' star Dirk Nowitzki.

The Nuggets continue their final push toward the postseason on Thursday when they host the Mavericks.

Denver won't have to worry about facing Nowitzki, who is indefinitely after the suffering a high left ankle sprain and a mildly sprained left knee during Sunday's 88-81 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

The Nuggets enter Thursday's contest on a three-game win streak, which includes a 120-106 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday.

With the win, the Nuggets (43-28) narrowed their gap to just 1/2 game behind the Golden State Warriors (43-27) for the eighth and final playoff spot and trail the Mavericks by only 1 1/2 games for seventh place in the Western Conference.

Dallas dropped three straight contests before ending the drought with a 103-90 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday. Josh Howard scored 32 points in the victory.