Noel sits out; eye injury seen as minor
CHICAGO - Nerlens Noel's left eye injury is not as significant as the 76ers may have thought. The power forward was not with the team Monday night for the game against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center. The team does not expect him to play Wednesday night in Atlanta against the Hawks.
CHICAGO - Nerlens Noel's left eye injury is not as significant as the 76ers may have thought.
The power forward was not with the team Monday night for the game against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center. The team does not expect him to play Wednesday night in Atlanta against the Hawks.
The Sixers said Noel suffered a corneal abrasion Sunday in the third quarter of their loss in Toronto. The 6-foot-11, 223-pounder was elbowed by Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry and was taken to an area hospital. The team wanted to make sure that Noel was cleared to fly to Chicago.
"Looking at light bothers him," coach Brett Brown said. "So he stayed back . . . to watch the game on TV. His only instruction tonight is he sends me a text at halftime and to make me a better coach, tell me what he sees."
Being sidelined for possibly two games is better than what the Sixers expected. Tests revealed that Noel has only the corneal abrasion.
"So that is good news," Brown said. "We did what we should have and [did] not put him immediately on a plane. We checked all of that."
Wood back with Sixers
With Noel sidelined, the Sixers recalled Christian Wood from the Delaware 87ers, their NBA Development League team. The rookie power forward found out he was being called up at about 6:30 a.m. Monday and flew from Philadelphia to Chicago two hours later. Wood averaged 19.3 points and 11.0 rebounds in three games with the Sevens. He signed with the Sixers as an undrafted rookie free agent out of UNLV this summer.