Nuggets veteran Paul Millsap said he wishes he would’ve been smarter about the left knee contusion that’s left him in and out of the lineup since colliding with Jamal Murray back on Dec. 20.

Since then, Millsap has missed three games and not played up to his capacity in a handful of others.

“Probably should’ve got it taken care of and sat down and make sure it was good at that time,” said Millsap, who’ll miss Saturday’s game vs. Cleveland. “It’s a little lingering effect to it, and a few other things going on because of it. But, best-case scenario is just sit down and make sure I’m fully healthy.”

He sounded confident that it wasn’t going to be a long-term issue.

“No doubt that my knee’s going to be fine,” Millsap said. “Right now it’s short-term vs. long-term. Not getting out there too fast and jeopardizing the entire season or something of that nature.”

Millsap said he was still dealing with ongoing swelling and sounded as if the prudent approach was to be cautious.

“It put me to a point to where I have to take it slow,” he said. “… For me, it was always if I’m able to play and move, I’m going to play. Not always the smartest decision, especially when you’ve got swelling going around in your knee. There’s too many moving parts in the knee to really jeopardize it, so just gotta be smarter about the decisions of getting out there and playing and when not to play.”

Nuggets coach Michael Malone said he wanted to keep his team’s playoff aspirations in mind.

“It just is not going away,” he said. “There’s swelling in there, some discomfort, so I think the rational, patient approach is just to, ‘What’s the rush?’ Let’s get him right. Hopefully we’re a team that can make the playoffs and play deep into the playoffs. And we’re going to need Paul to do that. So right now, it’s just more, let’s get him the rest that he needs and deserves to make sure his knee is right.”