At Nuggets practice today, the media focused on Jusuf Nurkic. He sprained his ankle early in the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors, but Michael Malone was optimistic that the injury isn’t serious and Nurkic could be back against the Miami Heat tomorrow night at Pepsi Center.

Below are the highlights from today’s media scrum with Coach Malone.

Injury Update: Michael Malone on Jusuf Nurkic’s sprained ankle

Malone: I think he’s doing well. He didn’t practice today, but I think it was more of a scare than anything. So, I’m hoping with that being said that he’ll be able to participate in shoot around tomorrow and play in tomorrow night’s game. I think it was after the game, people were making it sound a little bit more serious than maybe it was. Dan Shimensky (head athletic trainer) and Steve Hess (strength and conditioning coach) they kind of calmed my fears this morning, saying that he’s still sore, but I don’t think it’s anything major.

You put yourself in his shoes and our shoes, and with him being out as long as he was, you get nervous right away. Ok, is it the same knee? Is it bad? But obviously when he woke up this morning, got treatment — we seem to believe at the moment that nothing is serious and he should be ready to go tomorrow.

(A look at the block that Nurkic had that led to the injury.)

Wide Body: Malone on Nurkic screens

Malone: He’s such a big body. We chart something that I think is a great stat. Everybody gives the guy that makes the pass the assist. Well, we chart something called Screen Assist. That’s guys that give up their body to get somebody open. So, yeah the passer deserves credit, but what about the guy that got you open?

And Nurkic is a guy that is strong, he’s physical, he does not mind contact at all. When he uses his body, he gets people open. What players don’t understand: If you set great screens, you are going to be the one that gets open. So, if you’re really a selfish player then you go around setting great screens everywhere because you’re going to get the payoff.

(Nurkic’s screen gets Danilo Gallinari around Andre Iguodala, forces the defense to collapse and Juka capitalizes.) 

Nurkic the Scorer: Malone on Nurkic’s increased role

Malone: While he was out there, we went on a nice run. As you can tell, he has a hard time playing more than six minutes at a time, he gets very winded – and that’s to be expected. We have to build up his stamina and his conditioning. But while he was out there, defensively he’s physical. When you come into the paint, he’s going to make you feel him. His biggest challenge this year — looking at film from last year and talking with the staff — he would foul a lot. He has great hands, but he would foul a lot, be undisciplined.

I thought he played tremendous last night. Sometimes he thinks, ‘I wanna score. I wanna score.’ And last night he made the right play. If he caught the ball in the post and they doubled? He made the right play out. If he was open? He shot it. He took his time last night in the post, he wasn’t rushing as much as he has been. He’s only going to get better, and obviously thinking about how good he can be gets you excited.

(Here’s Nurkic with patience in the post against the Warriors’ Andrew Bogut.) 

Hired Goon: Malone on Nurkic’s physical nature

Malone: Everything is relative: time, score, situation. You always want to have composure on the floor. You don’t want anybody doing anything that’s going to cost your team a technical or loss of possession. With that being said, you do like the fact that Jusuf is a tough kid. He’s not going to back down from any challenge or anybody, for that matter. And he’s not afraid to use his body.

I have no problem, same thing with DeMarcus Cousins, he plays with emotion, he plays with toughness. Just make sure you harness all that and use it in the right way. Don’t ever let it become a detriment to your team. I love the fact that Nurk has that kind of toughness about him.

(Good physical defense and nice ability by Juka to stay in front of Marreese Speights.)

The Nuggets are back in action tomorrow night at Pepsi Center for a 7:00 p.m. MST tipoff against the Miami Heat. You can score tickets by clicking the picture below.