Denver was dealt an unexpected blow an hour before opening tip Wednesday when Nikola Jokic was ruled out due to right elbow inflammation.

Going into Wednesday night, the anticipation between the Denver Nuggets game against the Houston Rockets was huge. Both teams are on a four-game winning streak

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and forward Aaron Gordon are not playing in the team's home game against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.

Jalen Green scored 34 points, Alperen Sengun had 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and the visiting Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 128-108 on Wednesday night.

Nikola Jokic was ruled out for the game with an elbow injury shortly before tip-off. In his postgame press conference Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said the three-time NBA MVP suffered the injury in warmups. He claimed it "popped up last minute." Malone had no word on how serious the injury could be as he hadn't spoken to trainers yet.

The Nuggets have a number of players listed on the NBA injury report for Tuesday night's game against the Mavericks.

For the game, Nikola Jokic is on the injury report, but he is listed as probable, so he should be available. Jokic is averaging 31.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 1.8 steals per contest while shooting 55.

The Houston Rockets (26-12) travel to play the Denver Nuggets (24-15) on Wednesday at Ball Arena, the first game this season between the two teams. The Rockets won the season series 3-1 in 2023-24, with Alperen Şengün averaging 20.