Already shorthanded, the last thing the Bulls needed was to see their iron man on the floor in pain during the closing seconds of their 93-82 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Luol Deng was elbowed in the mouth after challenging a Spencer Hawes shot with 26 seconds remaining in the game.
The forward joked that Joakim Noah had so many blocks, that he wanted to get him one also.
Instead, he ended up with some loose bottom teeth and a serious headache.
The good news is that he didn’t suffer a concussion and after a trip to the dentist, should be fine going forward.
“I got a really bad headache. No concussion, just a bad headache and a bad head,” Deng said. “I’ll probably be in more pain tomorrow.”
Deng wears a mouth guard, but it only protects his top teeth.
Deng finished the game with 12 points and eight rebounds and was happy to end a disappointing February with a season sweep of the Sixers.
“It was a good win,” he said. “We’ve been in a slump. It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to win it.”
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