The star Serbian will miss his third-straight game for the Nuggets—last playing in a strange 126-123 loss to the lowly Washington Wizards this past Saturday. Jokic is with the Nuggets on their current road trip and warmed up on Monday before the team’s shorthanded 114-105 win at Golden State. He again skipped Denver’s game on Wednesday, a blowout 120-108 loss to the Lakers that had big standings implications.
Jokic’s left ankle is the reason for his absence, though he’s also battled elbow pain for weeks. Jokic first started noticeably limping in Boston on March 3, during a 110-103 Nuggets loss. Six days later he bashed his elbow during a two-game set in OKC that the Nuggets split.
He’s played through the pain most of the month and has still played close to his top level, averaging 29.3 points 13.6 rebounds and 9.0 assists this month but his deep-range shooting and free throw efficiency numbers are way down over the eight games in March. On the season, Jokic is battling Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for another MVP. Jokic ranks in the top three in the NBA for points, rebounds and assists while averaging a triple-double in what may be his finest offensive season yet.
Jamal Murray has also missed the last two contests for the Nuggets, spraining his right ankle toward the end of the game against the Wizards. He came back that night but was clearly impacted and hasn’t played since. Murray has been much better in recent months and is now averaging a career-high for scoring of 21.5 a game.
Portland has won three in a row, and have had a few hot streaks in the second half of the season—though the last one was interrupted by two Nuggets beatings in Denver. The Trail Blazers are sneaky and feisty and are just two games out of the last play-in slot in the West. Denver is battling all of Memphis, Houston and Los Angeles in a scramble for the 2-5 seeds. The Nuggets visit the Rockets on Sunday, in another game with big standings implications. After Friday’s game, the Nuggets have just four road games left on the season starting with Houston. The final three are all standalone games—meaning there’s a lot of resting in their own beds coming for the Nuggets.
Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun, who have each missed some recent games, are still on the report for their own issues but are expected to play.
The Nuggets are 3-5 without Jokic this season and need him healthy for the playoffs. Any talk of the Nuggets doing load management for Jokic seems to have been very stupid as the MVP is clearly dealing with an injury—bad news for Denver fans.
