NELSON SITS WITH SPRAINED WRIST

Jameer Nelson missed Sunday’s game against Indiana because of a sprained left wrist, but Nuggets coach Michael Malone doesn’t believe the ailment will shelve his reserve point guard for many games.

“I don’t think there’s any serious damage to the wrist, but it’s still very sore and swollen,” Malone said.

Nelson injured the wrist Friday during the Nuggets’ loss to Miami but played the rest of that game after sitting out for a short time.

“I joked with Jameer. It’s not like he has a good left hand as it is,” Malone said in jest. “He’s a very strong, right-hand-dominant player. But after the game, the next day, the swelling, it did blow up. So why risk putting him out here? Not only hurting himself more, but when a guy tries to play like that, in the end sometimes he winds up hurting the team. And I know that’s the last thing Jameer wants to do.”

Nurkic update.

Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic did not play against the Pacers because of left knee soreness. There is no real timetable for his return, just hope from Malone that it will be soon.

“He’s still out right now,” Malone said. “I think he’s feeling better, but they still want to make sure there’s nothing structurally wrong with his knee before they give him the go-ahead.”

Nurkic tweaked the knee, which had surgery to repair a partially torn patellar tendon, in the spring. He played in six games before aggravating it.

“You have to be smart about it,” Malone said. “On one hand, you want to throw him out there because he’s a load for us, offensively and defensively. Our defensive numbers with him on the floor are really good. But it’s the same knee he’s just come back from, being out as long as he has. You don’t want to jeopardize his longterm, big picture for ‘this’ game. He’s such a big part of what we’re trying to do, we want to be smart and prudent about bringing him back at the right time.”