Nerlens Noel hopes to play on Wednesday vs. Toronto
Nerlens Noel has given his wrists three days of rest, which he hopes is enough to allow him to play on Wednesday when the Sixers host Toronto.
Nerlens Noel has given his wrists three days of rest, which he hopes is enough to allow him to play Wednesday when the 76ers host Toronto.
The team was off Sunday and Noel was held out of Monday's loss to Chicago. He was limited in practice Tuesday and did not participate in any contact drills.
Noel said he has a lot more motion in his wrists after resting. The team lists him as questionable for Wednesday night.
"I feel better," Noel said. "It's not too bad. It's improving day to day. We'll see how it feels tomorrow."
Noel injured both wrists after falling to the court in a loss last week at Cleveland. He was sore, but Noel said he wanted to give his wrists "more of a shot." He finished the game and opted to play on Saturday in a loss to Orlando. Noel was ejected in the third quarter of that game after a scuffle with former Sixer Jason Smith. Noel said his ribs are fine despite his taking a blow from Smith.
"I ate that," Noel said.
In Noel's absence, rookie Jahlil Okafor grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds. The total was more than double Okafor's previous single-game high. Noel said Okafor played great. It was only a matter of time, Noel said, before Okafor started to increase his rebound totals.
Noel is averaging nearly 10 rebounds per game. He said there is "most definitely" enough rebounds for him and Okafor once he is back in the lineup.
"Wouldn't that be a good problem if they started hitting each other because they're both going after balls," coach Brett Brown said. ". . . I hope that we just keep having the effort to go chase boards. It's one of those areas that you can really zoom in on and coach and say, 'Hey, you're not pursuing stuff.' It's easy to kind of coach."
The Sixers enter Wednesday night still searching for their first win after seven losses. They will be catching the Raptors on the end of a back-to-back, as Toronto played Tuesday night in New York. If Noel plays, he will have to contend with Toronto's imposing frontcourt of center Jonas Valanciunas and power forwards Patrick Patterson and Luis Scola. Noel said a win would help build confidence in the team's ability to close out games.
"I think we do a good job of staying with them. We've been up on the Cavs and even against Chicago, they played them close," Noel said. "I think it would give them confidence to execute all the plays that we need to win a game."
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