Two weeks after he initially returned to action from a left ankle injury, Christian Braun’s ability to play remains in flux for the short-handed Nuggets.
Braun missed his fourth and fifth consecutive games this weekend, but he hasn’t re-injured the ankle or suffered any significant setbacks. The decision to hold Braun back has been a response to him not feeling 100% healthy when he’s played this month, Nuggets coach David Adelman said.
“I watch him work out, and he’s going full speed. It’s just, he can’t do everything his body should be able to do right now,” Adelman said Saturday before Denver’s 121-115 win over the Wizards. “And so I feel like it’s fair to us and to the player for him to come back when he’s really ready to play basketball, not just run up and down the court.”
Braun missed seven weeks after severely spraining his ankle on Nov. 13 in Los Angeles. He returned on Jan. 4 in a Nuggets loss to the Brooklyn Nets, playing three games on a minutes restriction before he was sidelined again for Denver’s recent stretch. He didn’t travel with the team last week for a back-to-back in New Orleans and Dallas, instead staying home with other injured players who were working on recovery in Denver.
Adelman said Braun went through the non-contact portion of practice on Friday out of precaution.
“It would be stupid to put him out there when he’s trying to get back to full strength,” the first-year coach said. “We don’t want a setback guarding (player development coach) Cam (Griffin). … We’re gonna be patient with CB.”
Braun, who’s been a starter the last two seasons for Denver, said he couldn’t walk for multiple weeks after suffering the injury. He struggled in his return this month, missing 11 of 14 field goal attempts in his first three games back, though Adelman also pointed out that Denver has missed his defensive ability “dramatically.”
The 24-year-old was originally supposed to play last Sunday against Milwaukee, but that turned out to be his first game back on the shelf when he decided the ankle didn’t feel comfortable after warming up.
“CB is tough. So him coming back as quick as he did off an injury like that is not surprising,” Adelman said. “And I think we have to do what’s best for him. I do think it’s a group conversation. Whatever CB communicates, I 100% understand where he’s coming from. That guy likes to play, loves to hoop. And he loves to win.”
Aaron Gordon’s return from a hamstring injury has been a bit more smooth, but he was still ruled out an hour before the second game of Denver’s home back-to-back on Sunday. He played both nights of the road back-to-back the previous week, and the Nuggets were initially planning to play him against Charlotte. But they ran him more than they wanted — 32 minutes — to escape with the win Saturday.
Adelman described Gordon’s situation as “maintenance of injuries he’s had in the past.” The power forward has been dealing with hamstring and calf injuries off and on for the last two seasons.
The Nuggets trailed 96-89 to Washington early in the fourth quarter Saturday, but the red-hot shooting of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jamal Murray turned the tide. Adelman drew up a play call in a timeout that generated a corner 3-pointer for Hardaway, who then buried another on the next possession. That quick 6-0 run fueled Denver for the last eight minutes.
Murray hit a go-ahead three with 2:12 to go, giving the Nuggets the lead for good. He finished with 42 points on 15 of 24 shooting. Hardaway added a season-high 30 points, including five buckets from downtown. The Nuggets (29-13) entered Sunday’s game against Charlotte with a 7-3 record since Nikola Jokic went down with a knee injury.
