The Pistons love a good challenge, so here’s one for them: Try holding Denver to 84 points when the Nuggets visit The Palace on Tuesday night. That would be half of what the Nuggets hung on Seattle in a 168-116 win in their Sunday game.

You know who must feel really lousy today? Eduardo Najera. On a day his team made 61 baskets, Najera made none.

The Nuggets are no strangers to high-scoring games, of course, dating to the Doug Moe era when the good ol’ boy coach let players like Dan Issel, Alex English and Kiki Vandeweghe fire away with impunity. The Pistons and Nuggets played the highest-scoring NBA game in history 25 years ago when Detroit won 188-186.

But that game went triple overtime. At the end of regulation, it was 145-145. Denver’s 168 points were the fourth-most in NBA history for a non-OT game. The 168 were, of course, the most in a game this season – by 30 whopping points. It was Denver that held the previous season high, scoring 138 in a win over – yup – Seattle.

The Pistons host their third straight Western Conference heavyweight in the Nuggets, having registered wins over San Antonio and New Orleans. But Denver, despite a three-game winning streak in which its average margin of victory is a gaudy 35.3 points, is flailing to keep its head above water in the ultracompetitive West. The Nuggets, 40-26, are out of the playoff field, two games behind current No. 8 seed Golden State in the loss column.

“You’re looking at a team that’s playing really well, but they’re No. 9 and they’re playing their lives off to get to No. 8,” Flip Saunders said after Monday’s practice. “For them, these are must-win games.”

How crazy is the West? San Antonio was the No. 1 seed less than a week ago, but then lost at New Orleans before losing to the Pistons on Friday and turning around and falling at Philadelphia on Saturday. That three-game losing streak took the Spurs from No. 1 to No. 6, one game better than No. 7 Dallas in the loss column and two ahead of No. 8 Golden State.

So the Pistons can expect Denver to play with the same rabid hunger the Nuggets have exhibited lately – and any chance of them looking ahead to their trip to Cleveland on Wednesday probably went by the boards with Sunday’s offensive fireworks.

“I don’t think our guys are looking ahead to Cleveland,” Saunders said. “When a team gets 168, it does get your attention.”

Eight Nuggets scored in double figures in their rout of Seattle with Allen Iverson (24 points) and Carmelo Anthony (26) almost matching their combined average production – Iverson is No. 3 in NBA scoring at 26.5 a game, Anthony No. 4 at 25.5 – even though no Denver starter played more than Iverson’s 27 minutes. Marcus Camby racked up a triple-double (13 points, 15 boards, 10 assists) in 26:36. Chucky Atkins and J.R. Smith both scored 19 off the bench and Linas Kleiza added 17 as the Nuggets’ reserves combined for 74 points. They scored 48 in the first quarter and 84 in each half.

Because Denver plays at such a high tempo – the Nuggets are second in the NBA to Golden State in scoring at 108.9 points a game, the perception is that it doesn’t play much defense. Yet Denver is ninth in the league in opposition field-goal percentage at .450. The Pistons are third at .436.

“They’re playing well right now,” Saunders said. “They’ve always been a very explosive offensive team. It will be very much contrasting styles. What we try to do is control it as much as we can with our offense. We’ll try to control tempo as much as we can.”