As the NBA regular season races toward its conclusion, the Nuggets appear to be peaking at the right time. They’ve now won seven straight games with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray both playing some of their best basketball. The goal was always to enter the playoffs on a roll, and that dream looks more realistic than ever.
And yet, even during this exciting and timely winning streak, the vibes are off, and it feels like it’s something new every single night; more often than not, something injury-related.
That was the case again on Wednesday night as Denver took care of business, pulling out a comfortable 130-117 victory over the Jazz in Utah. The entire starting lineup was intact, and other than Spencer Jones, the whole rotation was in action for this one.
The Joker put up another triple-double with 15 points, 17 rebounds, and 12 assists on just 10 shot attempts, while Murray had 37 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, knocking down 10-16 three pointers.
So, you’d think it would be all positive for the Nuggets coming out of Salt Lake City, getting the result they wanted out of a nice tune-up as the calendar flips to April and we’re now just a week and a half from the end of the regular season.
Peyton Watson and Tim Hardaway Jr. exit with injuries
But despite all that, it’s like fans in Denver simply can’t have nice things this year, because this game was marred by multiple injuries to key bench players with both Peyton Watson and Tim Hardaway Jr. leaving the game early, and not returning.
THJ left the game with left knee soreness just three minutes into the second quarter, then Watson followed him to the locker room shortly after with right hamstring tightness. Both players were ruled questionable to return coming out of halftime, but we never saw either one again on the night.
The fact that they were questionable is promising, and you’d hope that if it were a more competitive game against a more imposing opponent, they would have been able to check back in. But still, this has been a recurring theme all season long, and it’s still happening in April.
Hardaway Jr. has been an iron man for Denver this season, appearing in 75 games this season, so seeing him exit a game early is certainly cause for concern, especially with a knee injury. And Watson has already missed a huge chunk of games this season with a right hamstring injury, so this potential re-aggravation is a massive red flag.
Maybe these are a big deal, maybe they’re not. Either way, we’re now just five games away from the playoffs, and the Nuggets still can’t manage to get their entire rotation on the floor for a whole game from start to finish. This season may just be cursed.