DALLAS — As Nikola Jokic hopped away on one leg in Miami, the Nuggets’ position in the NBA’s Western Conference standings had been stagnant for a week. They were in third place, a game back of San Antonio, and that real estate was in jeopardy all of a sudden on Dec. 29. Even when Jokic’s knee injury was revealed to be only a bone bruise the next day, the concept of at least four weeks without him was unnerving to a city so accustomed to his presence on the court.
Would the Nuggets be able to hang on to a top-six seed in the West without their franchise player?