Philadelphia 76ers center Boban Marjanovic avoided a serious knee injury after a narrow 111-110 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.  A Tuesday morning MRI revealed no long-term concerns, and he isn't expected to be out for long.

The 7-foot-3, 290-pound center hurt his knee during a defensive play with a whisker over a minute left. His leg twisted as he was tangled up with the smaller Cheick Diallo while scrambling for a loose ball.

Marjanovic was clearly in pain after falling to the court, even pounding his hand on the hardwood, as he was helped to the locker room and left the arena on crutches.

“I’m praying that he’ll be alright,” said Tobias Harris, Marjanovic’s best friend on the team, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “He took a hard fall there. But I think he will be all right.”

Marjanovic was thrusted into the starting lineup after center Joel Embiid sat out with knee soreness, set to be re-evaluated this week for a potential return to the court.

The 30-year-old Serbian had 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting, along with 10 rebounds and two blocked shots in 13 minutes of action before leaving the floor, his second double-double in three games, before leaving the floor with his injury late in the fourth.

Marjanovic is averaging 9.0 points and 6.3 rebounds through 17 minutes per game in seven appearances with the Sixers.

Philly will likely turn to a slightly smaller rotation with Amir Johnson and Jonah Bolden taking up some of the minutes at center until Embiid and Marjanovic return to full health.