The Nuggets blew out the Rockets at home after Nikola Jokic scratched at the last minute

After all, the Nuggets aren’t invincible on 24 hours of rest.

Neither is Nikola Jokic.

At home after blowing out Dallas in prime time, Denver was dealt an unexpected blow an hour before tip-off Wednesday when Nikola Jokic was ruled out with right elbow inflammation, an injury he suffered during warmups. He wasn’t dealing with previous pain or discomfort in the elbow, coach Michael Malone said.

The Nuggets couldn’t overcome a last-minute rout in a 128-108 loss to the Rockets at Ball Arena, where it felt like the air had been let out of the building. It was the first time in nine back-to-backs this season that Denver (24-16) has lost the second game.

When asked about the severity of the injury, Malone did not say if the scratch was just a precautionary measure.

“I haven’t talked to the training staff yet,” he said, “so I’ll have a conversation with (VP of sports medicine) Steve Short and kind of see where we’re at with that.”

Jokic has missed six games this season, but this was his most abrupt removal from the lineup. He was not listed on the team’s initial injury report prior to Wednesday’s game. In fact, he was removed after being included in recent times due to illness. The defending league MVP warmed up wearing a sleeve on his right arm, but he didn’t appear to be in pain on the court as he took shots and warmly greeted former teammate Jeff Green. “Just something that came up at the last minute,” Malone said.

After being suspended, Jokic was not on the home bench during the game. Aaron Gordon was also out for the second night of a back-to-back nursing his right calf. DeAndre Jordan started in place of Jokic and defended Alperen Sengun formidable in the paint in the first quarter – until he picked up his third foul.

Houston’s Jalen Green came on in the second quarter, scored 12 of his 34 points and egged on a disgruntled Denver crowd after knocking down a heat-check jumper while being fouled in the final minute of the half. The Rockets scored 41 in the quarter and led 69-48 at halftime.

“When you go through a walkthrough with Nikola and you’re planning offensively and defensively with what we’re going to do and then to have that curveball thrown at you after that, it definitely makes it a little bit more difficult. to adjust on the fly,” Malone said. “… We just had no heads-up. It just happened. And it will happen at times. We must be ready. They are a very good team and they are having a very good season. I just felt like we could have dug a little bit deeper tonight.”

Jamal Murray went for 22 points and five assists, shooting 4 of 5 from the rim. Russell Westbrook added 17 points with efficient outside shooting, but the two guards combined for 10 turnovers against Houston’s third-ranked defense.

What the Rockets won’t be good at is 3-point shooting. They arrived in Colorado ranked 28th in the league at a 33.4% clip, but they couldn’t miss against the Nuggets. Their 44% night was led by a 6-for-10 Green.

Christian Braun was able to find his jumper in the loss and scored 22 points on near-perfect shooting from the field. He drained a pair of 3s and dunked over Cam Whitmore late in the third quarter, in one of the few worthy Denver highlights of the night. It was a kind of retaliation after Greene’s poster on Dario Saric. But Whitmore got the last laugh with a transition reverse dunk moments later.

Self-inflicted mistakes ultimately overwhelmed the Nuggets without Jokic. They committed 18 turnovers, leading to 30 points for Houston.