had an ice pack strapped to his right elbow when he left the Nuggets’ locker room after Wednesday’s shootaround, an injury that kept Denver’s leading scorer from playing against Minnesota.
But Harris will gladly take that elbow contusion over an injured head, the result of a nasty fall during Denver’s loss in Oklahoma City Monday night. Harris said Wednesday that his neck still felt stiff, but that he did not need to go through concussion protocol.
“It was just more scary than anything,” Harris said. “It definitely hurt. Thankfully, I had all the adrenaline going at the time, so I was able to play the rest of the game. But after, I definitely felt every bit of it.”
Recent G League call-up Torrey Craig, who had started at small forward the past two games, started in place of Harris at shooting guard against Minnesota.
Harris is averaging 16.1 points, three rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. He also entered Wednesday ranked seventh in the NBA in steals at 1.9 per game.
Nuggets backup point guard Emmanuel Mudiay also missed his second consecutive game with a sprained ankle sustained Friday against New Orleans.
Jokic returns to starting lineup. Denver center is no longer on a minutes restriction as he works his way back from sprained left ankle that sidelined him for seven games. The Nuggets, however, continue to take an approach dubbed “responsible return to play progression” with the big man.
The next step was re-joining the starting lineup against the Timberwolves, playing power forward alongside Mason Plumlee at center.
Jokic said after shootaround that ankle is “slowly getting better.”
“It still kind of bothers me,” Jokic said. “Not that much, but itap still there. Itap sore. Sometimes I feel pain.”
Jokic came off the bench in his first two games back, totaling 13 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes in a win over New Orleans and compiling 13 points, nine rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes in Monday’s one-point loss in Oklahoma City.
“The game was a little bit fast for me (at first), just because I was thinking about my leg,” Jokic said. “Now everything is the same.”
Rookie Morris recalled. With a banged-up backcourt, the Nuggets called up two-way rookie guard Monte Morris from the G League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Wednesday. Itap Morris’ second stint with Denver after making his NBA debut Dec. 12 at Detroit. Under a two-way contract, Morris is permitted to spend 45 total days with the Nuggets.
