Noel will sit out game against Bucks
Nerlens Noel is running out of games to get back onto the court. The rookie power forward will miss his second consecutive game with a sprained right ankle Monday when the 76ers host the Milwaukee Bucks at the Wells Fargo Center. His lone opportunity to return this season will be in Wednesday's finale at home against the Miami Heat.
Nerlens Noel is running out of games to get back onto the court.
The rookie power forward will miss his second consecutive game with a sprained right ankle Monday when the 76ers host the Milwaukee Bucks at the Wells Fargo Center. His lone opportunity to return this season will be in Wednesday's finale at home against the Miami Heat.
The rookie of the year candidate has been undergoing treatment on his ankle since he was hurt Wednesday in a loss to Washington.
Sixers coach Brett Brown was asked Sunday if we have seen the last of Noel this season.
"Don't tell him, though" Brown said. "Because I have this conversation with him, and he looks at me like, 'I don't think so. Don't write me off yet.' "
The coach initially thought Noel's injury was a season-ender. "But he's going overboard with extra treatment, doing anything and everything to try to play perhaps our last home game," Brown said. "If you asked him, I think he would question to categorically dismiss him for the rest of the year. He wouldn't agree with that."
Reserve forward Luc Mbah a Moute (left shoulder strain) and backup point guard Isaiah Canaan (right foot sprain) are also out. There's a 50-50 chance that point guard Ish Smith (left groin strain) will miss his second straight game.
"I ain't sitting down," Smith said. "I'm going to try to [play]." However, he acknowledged that the Sixers want him "to be smart and not do anything [harmful]. So we are leaving it 50-50. But God willing, I will [play]."
No more slump
Shooting guard Jason Richardson is averaging 18 points while shooting 65 percent in the last two games after averaging five points on 11 percent shooting in his previous 11 games.
"I finally got my rhythm back," said Richardson, who returned to the court Feb. 20 for the first time in more than two years after suffering a cartilage tear the size of a quarter on the right side of his left kneecap in January 2013.
"I'm just trying to go out there and finish up strong," he said. "My shot came back. I was in a little slump. My legs came back to me."
Open practice
The Sixers held their annual open practice for Sixers Camps participants Sunday at Haverford College with a twist. Instead of working out for the crowd, the Sixers interacted with campers. Noel, Mbah a Moute and Richardson answered questions and their teammates put the campers through drills.