INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Clippers seem to be contagious.
On a day Kawhi Leonard already wasn’t playing before Bradley Beal was ruled out for the season, two Nuggets starters exited with their own injuries during a 130-116 win.
Cam Johnson walked to the locker room immediately after checking out in the first quarter Wednesday. He was designated as questionable with a right arm strain at first. Then, in the second frame, Christian Braun briefly tried to play through a left ankle injury, only to ask for a sub when it became clear to him that he couldn’t.
Both were ruled out at halftime.
“Obviously, whatever happened wasn’t good enough for them to come back out and play the third quarter, so that’s concerning,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said after the team’s sixth consecutive win. “But I really don’t know, and I don’t think they do either. We have a full day here (in Los Angeles) tomorrow to kind of get all that stuff sorted out, which will be good for me, too. Because if they are out, or if they’re in, we have to figure out a way to make our rotation make sense. … So I’m hoping for the best.”
Johnson has already been bothered by a minor nerve issue in his right shoulder early this season. He has been off to a slow start shooting the ball, but the Nuggets have otherwise been pleased by his contributions on the margins.
Braun has an impressive track record of durability. He’s missed only three out of 174 regular-season games since the start of the 2023-24 campaign.
“These things happen, and there’s bangs and bruises and all these things,” Adelman said. “So that’s why you have a team. And the next man will step up. Tonight they did.”
Tim Hardaway Jr. replaced Braun in the starting lineup for the second half, finishing with 12 points and three assists. Spencer Jones filled in at the small forward spot, but the two-way player guarded Clippers point guard James Harden to great effect despite picking up five fouls.
“I think for Spencer, it’s so easy as a coach to say don’t foul him,” Adelman said. “If you’ve never played a guy who’s a Hall of Famer all the way through, you really don’t know what it’s like to guard him until you actually guard him. And so I thought in the second half, he was so much better keeping his hands off and still being physical.
“Not to mention, I thought the adjustment to be up even more in the pick-and-roll with earlier rotations impacting the roller allowed us to fly around and make things happen, turn them over a little bit, get out and run. And that’s Spencer’s special gift.”