Nuggets' Extensive Travel Problems Could Cause Issues for Rockets Game

Saturday was supposed to be one of the fun nights of the season for the Denver Nuggets.

They beat the Indiana Pacers 114-102 at Arena CDMX in Mexico City, center Nikola Jokic had 19 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, and forward Cameron Johnson added 18 on 8-of-12 shooting.

The plan was to fly to Houston right after the game, but the night went a lot differently.

Nuggets reporter Katy Winge of Altitude posted a timeline of what happened next.

The team got to the airport at 9 p.m. and found out there was an issue with the plane, and the part needed to fix it did not show up until 1 a.m. It was installed by 2:20 a.m. while players were still sitting on the plane.

Then, at 3:25 a.m., everyone had to get off because a door was jammed and would not fully close, and the team took buses back to the hotels at 5 a.m.

The Nuggets did not get the door closed on a plane out of Mexico until 4:36 p.m. Sunday, and Winge called it one of the worst travel nights she can remember for the team.

ESPN's Anthony Slater reported that Denver canceled Monday's shootaround.

Before any of that started, head coach David Adelman was enjoying the crowd in Mexico City.

"The NBA is global and it belongs here too," Adelman said after the win, according to The Associated Press.

The official injury report lists all five Saturday starters as questionable for Monday's game at Toyota Center.

Jokic is dealing with a right elbow sprain and guard Jamal Murray with a left shin contusion, while Johnson and forward Aaron Gordon are listed for lower body injury management and guard Christian Braun for a left calf contusion and illness.

Guard DeMar DeRozan, who came off the bench Saturday, is questionable with low back spasms, and guard Julian Strawther is out with a left knee sprain.

Nothing on the report ties any of those listings to the trip, so I would not blame the plane for all of it.

Still, a team that spent most of a night sitting on a broken plane and lost its shootaround is not going to feel fresh, and Adelman has already shown he is careful about his stars' minutes.

Johnson also had a hamstring scare earlier this month, which makes the injury management tag on his name easy to understand.

Houston is no easy spot either, since the Rockets are 7-3, though they have lost two straight, including a 102-99 loss at Phoenix on Saturday, and they are without centers Steven Adams and Clint Capela.

Denver is 5-3 and has won two in a row, and a big night in Mexico City should not be ruined by an airport.

If the Nuggets rest a few players or look tired in Houston, I would chalk it up to a strange 24 hours, and I would wait until Wednesday's game in Memphis to judge where this group really is, because one bad travel day should not define a good team.