After both suffering what seemed to be pretty bad injuries in last night’s 133-131 loss to the Indiana Pacers, Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkić are questionable for tomorrow night’s matchup in Orlando against the Magic (23-22).
Not only did the Phoenix Suns (26-19) snap a seven-game win streak to Indiana, Beal took a nasty, unintentional elbow to the face by Myles Turner with 8:09 left in the third quarter. Beal now is officially said to have a nasal fracture after he was gushing blood onto the court, but somehow came back in the fourth quarter.
Beal finished with 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and six turnovers in 34 minutes in the loss. On the season, he is averaging 17.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 21 games.
Coach Frank Vogel gave Beal major props for playing through the injury postgame.
“Bradley Beal was out there trying to play with probably a broken nose, toughing it out,” Vogel said. “Credit to him for just being on the floor.”
Jusuf Nurkić was ruled out for the remainder of the game to begin the fourth quarter with a left thumb injury. Nurkić checked out with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter with the Suns leading 103-98. He had two points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals in 20 minutes total.
Nurkić’s injury is now officially listed to be a thumb sprain after he said he jammed his finger twice during the loss, but it wasn’t broken. X-rays were negative.
The Suns’ big man has missed 0 of Phoenix’s 45 games this season due to injury, only two because of personal reasons.
It would be a huge loss if Nurkić is unable to play. Phoenix has by far its best net rating with Nurkić on the floor (9.1) compared to any other player. Nurkić is averaging 11.6 points and 10.3 rebounds in the 43 contests he’s played in.
Grayson Allen is not on the injury report after suffering an apparent right knee injury. Eric Gordon is not listed either after he returned last night following missing two games due to right wrist soreness.
Bol Bol (right foot sprain) will miss his eighth straight game, but Vogel has said his injury is not long term. Damion Lee remains out after undergoing right meniscus surgery in the offseason.
Gary Harris (right calf strain) is the only Magic player listed as out.