The Nuggets are finally, mercifully starting to get healthy, and as a precaution, decided to rest Jamal Murray, Peyton Watson, and Jonas Valanciunas on Friday night in Milwaukee. The three players are all varying degrees of banged up and carried a big load on Thursday night in Washington to help avoid a three-game losing skid.
So, it made sense to get them some rest on the second leg of the back-to-back. But the one starter who didn’t get the night off was Aaron Gordon. AG missed about six weeks with a hamstring injury before returning in early January. He has looked good and recently said he’s feeling better than ever, but still, he has been plagued by soft tissue injuries for the last couple of years, and he needs to be managed with caution during the regular season.
He was listed as probable on the initial injury report, and despite the rest of the starters, P-Wat, and Big Val getting the night off, AG tried to push it, playing his second game in 28 hours, and taking a Giannis Antetokounmpo matchup head-on.
Gordon started the game well, with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists early on as Denver was opening up a lead. But then, in the closing seconds of the first half, he grabbed a rebound and looked to lead a fast break the other way, but pulled up lame after just a few strides. He started limping to the locker room and was ruled out shortly after.
Gordon should have been resting with a bad hamstring
It’s great that Gordon was feeling so good and wanted to play. And it’s awesome that he’s gutting it out, battling Giannis to try and lead the team to a win without the rest of the rotation, but also, what are we doing?
This is a regular-season game in January against the 11-seed in the East. The Nuggets have established a great position in the West standings, all things considered, and at this point, the most important thing by far is getting everyone healthy and fresh for the playoffs. If the team is at full strength, they can beat anyone.
But a huge factor in getting healthy is managing Gordon, and this was a total failure in doing so. Somebody should have saved him from himself and determined that no matter how good he felt, the risk/reward factor here was not in the Nuggets’ favor at all.
Hopefully, this was nothing more than a tweak. A wake-up call to remind the organization about the big picture and the end goal of raising a banner. That goal was compromised on Friday night, and if this ends up being another extended absence for Gordon, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves for needlessly pushing AG.