Christian Braun hated the view from the sideline. He hated wearing a hoodie on the bench. He hated the helplessness as other Nuggets teammates joined him there.
It was an unfamiliar vantage point for him. In his last six years (and change) of professional and college basketball, he had played in 394 of his teams’ 404 total games — postseasons included. Even as an unproven NBA rookie, he missed only six regular-season games and one more in the playoffs, all by the coach’s decision, not because he was injured.
He had no choice but to watch from Denver’s bench for the last seven weeks.