Nuggets coach Brian Shaw on Monday said that Timofey Mozgov would start at center against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday at the Pepsi Center, replacing the recently struggling J.J. Hickson.

The decision came in the wake of Denver’s 109-95 loss Sunday at home to the Sacramento Kings.

Shaw added that Hickson would come off the bench against Portland, his former team, to play power forward with the second unit, joining the recently acquired Jan Vesely on the floor.

“They played a little bit together last night, and I liked the activity of those two together, with J.J.’s mobility and athletic ability with Jan,” Shaw said.

Against the Kings, Hickson missed his only two field-goal attempts and was 1-for-6 from the free-throw line to finish with the single point. Mozgov had a bad game, too, going 3-for-15 from the floor and finishing with six points.

“It was kind of a tough decision,” Shaw said. “It was something I’ve been thinking about doing over the last couple of weeks and I wanted Timo to come off a better performance than what he had last night. But with some of the big centers we’ve been playing against, I like his size in there and his ability to protect the rim, more so than we’ve been getting.

“It’s not an indictment on J.J. It’s no secret that he’s been struggling at the free-throw line and I feel like it’s maybe affected his confidence … in not rolling to the basket as aggressively as he had been or running the floor maybe because he doesn’t want to get fouled and go to the free-throw line. We talked about it, showed him some things, and it’s not permanent, but something we’re going to go with right now.”

Ty Lawson (fractured rib) and Darrell Arthur (hip strain) again didn’t practice Monday, so neither is expected to return against the Trail Blazers. “No prognosis,” Shaw said. “I just keep hearing … that Ty’s feeling better, but still isn’t able to do anything out on the court yet.”

Shaw added of Lawson, “At this point, it’s not like there’s one game left in the season and we have to win to make the playoffs or anything like that. … So I’d rather see him completely heal and come back when he’s able, rather than rush back and put himself in jeopardy.”

Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com