Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams believes there was no malice on Andrew Wiggins' part on a play that saw teammate Nerlens Noel stretchered off the court after an airborne collision with the Minnesota Timberwolves swingman.
Wiggins took air for a right-handed spikedown, but raised his elbow to protect himself, accidentally nailing Noel in the jaw and knocking him out in the process:
Nerlens Noel takes a hard elbow from Wiggins, lands head-first on the floor. Looked like he was knocked out cold. #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/p38D8MnTVM
— Carson Cunningham (@Carson_OKC) January 9, 2019
Noel can be seen dazed before his head knocked into the hardwood, a worrisome sign for Thunder fans, as he wasn't able to leave the court on his own accord.
Adams however, didn't think there was any ill intent from Wiggins on the play, but that it was a rather tough break for his teammate, who got the worst end of the challenge:
“It was just a really s*** play,” said Steven Adams, according to ESPN's Royce Young. “It's unfortunate that it happened. Obviously, Wiggins didn't mean anything in that — that should be said. He shouldn't be taking any blame for it whatsoever. It's just one of those crazy plays that happens. Fortunately, they responded quite quickly, the medical staff and whatnot. It was really good. I felt like he was in the best hands at the time, which was good.”
Noel scored six points on 3-of-4 shooting and grabbed an offensive rebound before departing after six minutes on the floor. He will have to go through the concussion protocol before returning to the floor, leaving Adams with the bulk of the load at center for the time being.
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