MIAMI — Denver Nuggets’ leading scorer Gary Harris will miss his second consecutive game with a right knee sprain/strain, according to Sunday’s official injury report prior to Monday’s contest at the Heat.
Harris, who is averaging 17.7 points per game while shooting 48.6 from the floor and 39.9 percent from 3-point distance, missed Saturday’s stunning Nuggets loss at Memphis that served as a significant blow to Denver’s playoff hopes. He sustained the injury in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s home win over the Pistons, when he landed awkwardly on his right leg after being fouled on a made dunk. He walked gingerly to the Nuggets’ locker room after making the free throw to receive initial X-rays that came back negative. An MRI Friday caused Harris’ diagnosis from “soreness” to a “sprain/strain.”
Denver coach Michael Malone told reporters prior to Saturday’s loss at Memphis that Harris could miss three or four games, but that he hoped Harris could return sometime on this season-long seven-game road trip. After Monday’s game at Miami, the Nuggets play at Chicago Wednesday and at Washington Friday.
Will Barton started in Harris’ place Saturday and finished with eight points on 3-of-12 shooting and seven rebounds. Two-way rookie Torrey Craig added nine points and six rebounds in 16 minutes in his first action since being called back up to the Nuggets after a two-week stint in the G League to finish rehabbing a hamstring injury.
The Nuggets (38-32) entered Sunday’s action in 10th place in the Western Conference, percentage points behind the ninth-place Clippers (37-31) and 1.5 games behind eighth-place New Orleans (39-30).
