Nuggets' forward Danilo Gallinari set for MRI on groin

DENVER — Nuggets’ forward Danilo Gallinari will undergo an MRI Thursday to determine the severity of the forward’s left groin strain suffered in the third quarter of Denver’s 119-99 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

“He’ll get an MRI in the morning and see how it feels,” Michael Malone said.

Gallinari took a foul on Vince Carter and removed himself from the game after an awkward landing on a drive with roughly three minutes remaining in the third. Gallinari, who recorded 14 points on 4-12 shooting in 30 minutes prior to the injury, tried to return to the game and did for a possession before heading to the locker room for good a few minutes later.

“I don’t think it was bothering him prior to tonight, but I did notice him during the game a lot in that first half, kind of fussing with it, stretching it out, opening up his groin, trying to stretch it a little bit,” Malone said. “But obviously, there was a point in that second half where he felt it, came out, wanted to go back in, test it one more time and just wasn’t feeling right. So that’s when we made the decision to pull him and hopefully it’s not too serious.”

Gallinari joins a Nuggets’ injury report that’s filling up, close to the level it was at during the onset of the regular season. Will Barton was ruled out prior to the game with a left ankle sprain, the same ankle that caused him to miss 13 games earlier this year. Barton did undergo an MRI today, which Malone did not know the results of prior to tonight’s game.

“I don’t think it’s serious, but I was shocked that he didn’t play (Tuesday),” Malone said of Barton. “So this is two games in a row where he is not available to play. It came as a surprise. Hopefully, when we get the results back it’s nothing serious and we can get him back out there as soon as possible.”

“I don’t know when it happened,” Malone continued. “Will doesn’t know when it happened. We went to shootaround in L.A. and his ankle was giving him a lot of trouble. He was in a lot of pain. It was ruled that he wouldn’t play and he woke up today, felt the same and here we are, in the same situation.”

Emmanuel Mudiay returned tonight after missing Denver’s last five games with low back pain and played 26 minutes off the bench. The plan was to play Mudiay close to 20 minutes – his restriction for Wednesday, but once Jameer Nelson was ejected with only four minutes gone in the first quarter, that plan was altered. Mudiay mentioned postgame that he’s “playing through” the pain but expects to be back to 100 percent shortly.

“These are the dog days, man,” Malone said. “You got eight more games until the All-Star break. Trying to get through that in one piece if we can. Obviously, you got Will Barton out. You got Nikola Jokic out. You got Gallo out. So hopefully, we can get all those guys back sooner rather than later.”

Denver hosts Milwaukee Friday before traveling to San Antonio for a game Saturday. Jokic is still day-to-day with a left hip flexor strain.