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

The Nuggets are not invincible on 24 hours of rest after all. Back home after blowing out Dallas in prime time, Denver was dealt an unexpected blow an hour before opening tip Wednesday when Nikola Jokic was ruled out due to right elbow inflammation,

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.

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.

DENVER — Nuggets center Nikola Jokic injured his right elbow while warming up Wednesday night and was ruled out before Denver’s 128-108 loss to the Houston Rockets. The injury was officially listed as right elbow inflammation.

Vlatko Cancar and DaRon Holmes II remain out for Denver, while rookies Trey Alexander and Spencer Jones are headed to Grand Rapids for G League assignments. Miami's Jimmy Butler is eligible to return from a seven-game suspension levied by the team for Friday's game.

The Nuggets got some bad news prior to Wednesday's game against the Rockets. Not only was Aaron Gordon ruled out with right calf injury management an hour before Denver hosted Houston in a battle of top-four teams in the Western Conference,