Cam Johnson, Christian Braun leave Nuggets-Clippers game with injuries
INGLEWOOD Calif The Clippers seem to be contagious On a day Kawhi Leonard already wasn t playing before Bradley Beal was ruled out for the season two Nuggets starters exited with their own injuries during a - win Cam Johnson walked to the locker room right now after checking out in the first quarter Wednesday He was designated as questionable with a right arm strain at first Then in the second frame Christian Braun briefly tried to play through a left ankle injury only to ask for a sub when it became clear to him that he couldn t Both were ruled out at halftime Obviously whatever happened wasn t good enough for them to come back out and play the third quarter so that s concerning Nuggets coach David Adelman declared after the band s sixth consecutive win But I really don t know and I don t think they do either We have a full day here in Los Angeles the next morning to kind of get all that stuff sorted out which will be good for me too Because if they are out or if they re in we have to figure out a way to make our rotation make sense So I m hoping for the best Johnson has already been bothered by a minor nerve issue in his right shoulder early this season He has been off to a slow start shooting the ball but the Nuggets have otherwise been pleased by his contributions on the margins Braun has an impressive track record of durability He s missed only three out of regular-season games since the start of the - campaign These things happen and there s bangs and bruises and all these things Adelman disclosed So that s why you have a club And the next man will step up Tonight they did Tim Hardaway Jr replaced Braun in the starting lineup for the second half finishing with points and three assists Spencer Jones filled in at the small forward spot but the two-way sportsman guarded Clippers point guard James Harden to great effect despite picking up five fouls Related Articles Scoring curse broken Nuggets completely win a Nikola Jokic -point championship What David Adelman has noticed about Nikola Jokic s shooting touch Nuggets extend winning streak to five with win over Kings How -way participant Spencer Jones has emerged as defensive specialist option for Nuggets Michael Ray Richardson former Knicks and Nets All-Star dead at I think for Spencer it s so easy as a coach to say don t foul him Adelman stated If you ve never played a guy who s a Hall of Famer all the way through you really don t know what it s like to guard him until you indeed guard him And so I thought in the second half he was so much better keeping his hands off and still being physical Not to mention I thought the adjustment to be up even more in the pick-and-roll with earlier rotations impacting the roller allowed us to fly around and make things happen turn them over a little bit get out and run And that s Spencer s special gift
