Just when it seemed like everything was finally falling into place for the Denver Nuggets, they got hit with some brutal, late-breaking news on Wednesday. Nikola Jokic suffered an apparent elbow injury during warmups ahead of the team’s game against the Rockets and was ruled out with inflammation.
This is a new injury for Jokic as he wasn’t even listed on the injury report Wednesday morning. He recently missed a pair of games with an illness but returned to help Denver beat the Nets on Friday. He was listed as questionable for the past few games with the same illness but played and helped the team sweep the Mavericks on Sunday and Tuesday.
This bit of bad luck comes just as the Nuggets had finally gotten healthy and started playing their best basketball of the season. Aaron Gordon returned from a nine-game absence on Sunday and looked good off the bench. Then, Jamal Murray had his best game of the season on Tuesday, scoring 45 points in a big win.
The Nuggets have won four games in a row and improved their record to 24-15, which is good for 4th place in the West. A win over the Rockets on Wednesday night would pull them into a tie with the Grizzlies for 3rd and just 1.5 games back of the Rockets for 2nd in the conference.
Nuggets may have found something without Jokic recently
Generally, when the Nuggets have played without Jokic in recent years, they’ve been a historically inept team. The numbers this season without the Joker on the court would make the Nuggets the worst team in the league by far.
But there is some reason for optimism after Jokic’s most recent absence. Denver went 1-1 last week when Jokic was out sick, but they played great in both games. First, the Jokic-less Nuggets went toe-to-toe with the defending champs, staying close until the very end.
Then, the next night, the shorthanded Nuggets came out and laid a whooping on the Clippers. They looked like a brand new team, playing small, flying around on both ends, and firing up three-pointers.
Aaron Gordon also out for Nuggets
Aaron Gordon will miss this game to manage his recent calf injury as it’s the second night of a back-to-back, but there’s no reason for concern there. The two Jokic-less wins last week also came without Gordon so hopefully the Nuggets can jump right back into that form.
Hopefully, there is no reason for concern with this elbow injury for Jokic. As far as we know, it felt funny and the team chose to be extremely cautious after playing the night before. That’s the hope until we get an update, but for now, it’s not time to panic.