Nuggets forward Cameron Johnson was forced out of Sunday’s loss to Minnesota with a lingering right ankle injury and doesn’t expect to be available for tonight’s game at Utah, writes Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette. Johnson struggled through a frustrating afternoon against the Wolves, going scoreless in 23 minutes and missing all six of his shots. Benedetto notes that he’s shooting just 31.4% from the field and 26.7% from three-point range in six games since the All-Star break.
“One (part) is understanding that you’ve been through it before,” Johnson said. “(It’s) understanding that every time that you’ve felt down that you don’t really feel like you’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel — you just feel like you keep letting yourself down, letting your teammates down — every time that’s happened, I’ve been able to turn it around and get back on track some way somehow.”
Johnson was expected to be a seamless replacement for Michael Porter Jr. when he was acquired in a trade with Brooklyn last summer. After a slow start to the season, he found his outside shot in November and December before suffering a bone bruise shortly before Christmas that sidelined him for six weeks.
The first priority is fixing the ankle issue that Johnson said has bothered him throughout the season. He plans to try different shoes or orthotics to help ease the pain.
“It hasn’t knocked me out of the game completely yet. It hasn’t forced me to hang it up. It hasn’t forced me to miss every shot for the rest of my career,” Johnson said. “I just got to continue on with that trust, continue to work and forget about it.”
There’s more on the Nuggets:
- Coach David Adelman adjusted his substitution pattern after watching a nine-point lead slip away while Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray were both resting early in the second quarter, Benedetto states in a separate story. Murray remained on the court the next time Jokic went to the bench early in the fourth quarter. “It’s not what I want to do,” Adelman admitted. “I like them to play together. I don’t like when I’m taking minutes away from them not being on the court together. If we have to do it, we’ll do it, because this can’t happen. It’s happened two games in a row. It’s cost us big time.”
- The Nuggets weren’t able to able to add any wing help in the buyout market, so that heightens the need for Johnson to get healthy, observes Sean Keeler of The Denver Post. They missed out on two potential targets when Khris Middleton opted to stay in Dallas and Kyle Anderson decided to return to Minnesota.
- Reinforcements could be coming soon as Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson are close to returning from hamstring injuries, per Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints (Twitter link). Sources tell Siegel that both players are ramping up their activities and will be reexamined this week.
- Meeting with reporters before Sunday’s game, Adelman had some harsh words about Friday’s incident that saw the Thunder’s Luguentz Dort get ejected for tripping Jokic, relays Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. “There’s a point where we play these games and what he deals with nightly, anybody would react that way,” Adelman said of Jokic. “And then for Dort to take that shot — and then I guess it wasn’t that big of a deal from their standpoint, how they looked at it — is ridiculous. That was malicious. It was a cheap shot. Lu Dort’s a great player, and that’s not what I’ve seen him do before. But at some point, you have to stand up for yourself.”
Media and some fans over hyped Cam Johnson as a missing piece for multiple teams. He is more of just a guy, he shouldn’t be relied on for big impact.
That Dort cheap shot should’ve gotten him suspended a few games. It was an attempt to hurt a player. Maybe he’s just mad that Jokic should’ve been the MVP last year, not his flopper of a soft teammate.
It’s a shame Denver can’t get healthy. Gordon was playing really well and then when he went down Watson blew up. They have the same problem they’ve always had, which is what to do when Jokic sits. But if they get their roster back for the playoffs they have as good a chance as anybody to win the West.