PORTLAND, Ore. -- Nerlens Noel's status for Saturday night's game (see game notes) against the Trail Blazers is uncertain because of a right knee contusion.
“We still don’t know,” Brett Brown said after shootaround at the Moda Center. “We tested him today. If I have to guess, I’m going to guess no. He didn’t look great and so that influences my guess and we’ll find out later. He’ll do the pregame warmup stuff and find out more tonight.”
Brown said Noel did “very little” during shootaround. He will be re-evaluated Saturday evening before the game for the team to make a final call.
“Today’s shootaround, when you’re going into a back-to-back, isn’t that challenging anyways,” Brown said, referencing the Sixers' game against the Warriors Sunday. “We didn’t truly push it where we tested it. We’ll push it tonight before the game and really give it a fair chance to be judged.”
Noel previously missed Wednesday’s game against the Nuggets. He suffered the injury Sunday against the Celtics and played the following night against the Pacers.
Even though the season is winding down, Brown is not looking to sit Noel just because there are only a handful of games remaining.
“We want to be smart and responsible with him, but we want to end strong,” Brown said. “We want to get wins. We’re not trying to play conservative with anybody. We’ll be smart. We won’t be reckless. But it’s not to the point where we have 15 games left, five games left, 10 games, it’s not that. We want to end strong.”
Richaun Holmes, who is in his second game back from an Achilles strain, will be on a 20-minute restriction.