Nerlens Noel Was Taken To The Hospital After Catching An Elbow To The Face From Kyle Lowry

Philadelphia 76ers big man Nerlens Noel had to be taken to a local hospital after catching a nasty elbow to the eye from Raptors guard Kyle Lowry on Sunday night at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

He was subsequently diagnosed with a left-eye corneal abrasion, and Sixers coach Brett Brown said after the game that it was unclear whether he’d be able to travel with the team to face the Chicago Bulls on Monday. Via Dhiren Mahiban of CSNPhilly.com:

“He’s currently at the hospital right now,” Brown said. “We’re just taking precautionary measures. We’ll be at 40,000 [feet] in the air. It’s a corneal abrasion. We’ll learn more. To just get it looked at here (Air Canada Centre) and then get on a plane, we didn’t think was wise because of the pressure of being on an airplane heading to Chicago.”

The Sixers have a quick turnaround as they visit the Bulls Monday night. Could Noel be back in time?

“I don’t know. I don’t even know if he can fly,” Brown said. “I think all these things that we’re studying now are more just informative, information-based things so we can give better answers later. Right now it’s very precautionary.”

According to one local beat reporter for the Daily News, Noel still seemed pretty shaken up even after being helped off the court and into the locker room prior to being transported to the hospital.

The lowly Sixers went on to lose 96-76 to the Toronto Raptors and fell to 1-23 on the season. Lowry, who earned a technical foul on the play in question, finished with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists, but was just 5-of-15 from the field, including 3-of-8 from downtown. DeMar DeRozan was the high scorer for the Raptors with 25 points and eight rebounds, while Luis Scola matched his season-high with 22 points on efficient 10-of-14 shooting.

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Jahlil Okafor led the way for Philly with his seventh double-double of the season as he posted 25 points and 14 rebounds, while Robert Covington contributed 15 points and nine boards. Ultimately, it was poor shooting (28-of-84 from the field) and sloppy play (22 turnovers) that undid the Sixers, who also got beat in the open court as Toronto scored 14 fast-break points to their three. The Raptors will travel to Indiana to face the Pacers on the second night of their back-to-back on Monday and kick off a three-game road trip.

(via CSNPhilly.com)

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