The Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets meet at the Staples on Tuesday night, in a battle between two of the bottom feeders in the Western Conference. The Lakers return home from a four game road trip with nothing to show for it, but amongst those four losses were a couple of close games that required overtime in Orlando and Milwaukee. The Nuggets are coming off a home loss to Oklahoma City, and have now dropped 12 of their last 13 overall.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Fatigue - This will be Denver's second game in as many nights, which is a situation that has given them trouble recently. They've lost five in row when playing the second game of a back-to-back, and that's a trend that will more than likely continue here tonight.

2. Home Cookin' - The Nuggets have lost six of their last seven road games, and they've failed to cover the spread in each of their last four away from home. The Lakers last home game was a 123-118 overtime win over the Bulls, and while they have lost four straight on the road since, they should have added motivation for what appears to be a very winnable home game.

3. X-Factor - Carlos Boozer scored 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting in a 111-103 Lakers victory in the last meeting between these two teams. Given the Nuggets soft defense, we might expect Boozer to have another solid performance here tonight.

Selection: This is a play on the L.A. Lakers (8*)