Nikola Jokic limped off the court at halftime during the Denver Nuggets’ 147-123 loss against the Miami Heat on Monday night, and head coach David Adelman’s take on the injury might leave the fans anxious.
“Immediately, he knew something was wrong,” Adelman said of Jokic’s injury via ESPN. “Hey, this is part of the NBA. Anybody who gets hurt in this game, it’s kind of gut-wrenching, especially somebody as special as he is. We’ll find out more tomorrow. We’ll move on as a team. Obviously, right now, I’m more concerned just about him as a person and the disappointment of going through something like that.”
“It’s just part of this process,” he continued. “You don’t get definitive answers right after these things happen. I know he’s an extremely special player that people want updates on right away; makes total sense to me. But we’ll go through the process properly, for him and for our team.”
Jokic was under the basket when his knee buckled after Spencer Jones stepped on his left foot. The Denver Nuggets star, who finished with 21 points, five rebounds, and eight assists on 9-for-14 shooting, lay on the court before leaving under his own power, and will have his MRI on Tuesday.
Denver Nuggets News: Jamal Murray addresses Nikola Jokic’s knee injury after the game
As the Denver Nuggets await official word on the severity of Nikola Jokic’s status, Jamal Murray, given his own history of knee injuries, hopes that the injury is not serious, as they cannot afford to lose him for a long period.
“I mean, I just wish for the best. The first thing that went through my mind was, I hope it’s not what I had,” Murray said of Jokic via AltitudeTV. “So as long as that’s not the equation, then obviously it’s part of the game. But we never want to see it happen. I’ll talk to him soon.”
“It’s the same kind of mentality. Just next man up, we got to focus on what’s in here,” he added. “Obviously, he’s not just a big part of what we do, but almost everything that we do. So we just want to see him healthy for the most. We just want to see him healthy, and everybody’s in here to ready to step up.”
