As the NBA regular season draws to a close, the Nuggets are hurt. In the Nuggets versus Timberwolves game, Nikola Jokic was observed sporting a taped-up right hand.

Jokic was reported as having lower back soreness and left hip inflammation on the Denver injury report prior to the game, suggesting that this is a very recent ailment. Throughout the game, Jokic was observed having his wrist re-taped several times.

“I was surprised he played tonight, to be quite honest,” Malone said on Jokic.

“His wrist is really giving him a lot of trouble. As we know, Nikola is the kind of guy that plays through a lot of things that most guys wouldn’t play through.”

Unfortunately for Jokic, his right hand is his shooting hand. He also had a few errant passes and looked a bit off all night. Despite this, Jokic still led the team, scoring 32 points.

“Hopefully it’s going to be a little bit better, just so I don’t feel it every time when I shoot,” Jokic said. “But it’s good. I’m used to it, dealing with the pain. It’s kind of normal for me.”

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Even though the Nuggets are kind of limping to the finish line in the regular season, Malone still feels confident that if the team has a chance to get healthy, they can beat anybody.

“I have complete confidence that this group, regardless of seed, can beat anybody anywhere when we’re healthy,” Malone said. “… I want to get back to playing 48 minutes of Denver Nugget basketball.”