IS STOCKPILING DEFENSEMEN
The 76ers shut Elton Brand down for the second half of last night's 100-99 loss to the Boston Celtics, but apparently not for any longer than that. At least not right now.
The power forward, recovering from a dislocated right shoulder suffered Dec. 17 against the Milwaukee Bucks, underwent a magnetic resonance imaging scan today, which the Sixers say showed that the injury is healing as expected. Brand is scheduled to visit Dr. Craig Morgan, his personal surgeon, tomorrow in Wilmington, De. He is being listed as day-to-day, but is expected to be available to play tomorrow night against the Indiana Pacers.
Although it would seem, from a layman's point of view, to make sense to give Brand more time to heal without the demands of practices and games, coach Tony DiLeo said ''We're not thinking about Elton shutting down or (that we) have to replace him somehow.''
''We're just going with our plan,'' DiLeo said. "I think we're close in the healing process.''
Brand played 8:40 of the first half against the Celtics, wearing a protective brace fortified by a thick pad. He said after the game that he felt pain and felt restricted, unable to fully straighten his arm to reach for rebounds or to naturally take shots. He termed it ''a setback.''
DiLeo today called in ''a natural process'' and said ''there's been no setback.''
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
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