The Denver Nuggets can hardly afford their longest losing streak of the season now.

Looking to avoid their season-high fourth straight loss, the Nuggets visit the Seattle SuperSonics on Wednesday night.

Denver (33-23) has not won since defeating Eastern Conference-leading Boston 124-118 on Feb. 19. The three-game skid is the third this season for the Nuggets, who haven't lost four straight since Feb. 14-24, 2007.

Denver is in ninth place in the Western Conference, one game behind Golden State for the eighth and final playoff spot.

"Right now we are not playing with a sense of urgency," Nuggets forward Eduardo Najera said after Monday's 98-93 loss to Detroit. "Everybody should know we are in ninth place, and it's going to be really tough down the stretch, we've got to take care of business at home and on the road.

"We have to realize we are in a hunt, and we've got to come out and be ready to play every single night."

Najera scored 13 off the bench, Allen Iverson had 28 and Carmelo Anthony chipped in 23 points and 11 rebounds for Denver, which ranks fourth in the NBA with 107.0 points per game.

"Yeah, all of them are tough," Iverson said. "This one was real tough, just because we are at home playing in front of our home crowd. We wanted to come in here and perform well. We didn't do that."

The Nuggets also will be trying to end a three-game road losing streak. They are just 11-16 away from home, but 4-11 there when scoring fewer than 107.0 points.

"It's always frustrating when you lose, especially when you try to make a playoff race," said J.R. Smith, who missed two of three free throws with a chance to tie the game in the final seconds. "It's always frustrating no matter what time of the year it is."

Denver has won eight of 11 against the SuperSonics (15-41), including four of five in Seattle. The Sonics have dropped five of seven, including Tuesday's 105-99 defeat at Golden State. Seattle was coming off Sunday's 111-91 loss to the West-leading Los Angeles Lakers.

"We get upset with ourselves, but we never put our heads down,'' said rookie Kevin Durant, who scored 21 points. "I think we come out and play hard, and if you've seen our last game, there was a big difference between what we did then and today, so we've got to keep building.

"We'd love to win, but we've got to keep building.''

Fellow rookie Jeff Green chipped in a career high 21 for the Sonics, who have been dealing with illness, injuries and a revamped roster.

Donyell Marshall made his Seattle debut despite a lingering flu bug that has kept him from playing since he was acquired in a trade with Cleveland on Thursday, but played less than two minutes and did not score. Ira Newble, acquired along with Marshall, still hasn't played for Seattle.

Earl Watson did not play because of illness, and Damien Wilkins missed his second game with a sprained right wrist.