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Noah out at least two weeks with shoulder sprain

Joakim Noah stood on the sideline when Bulls practice ended Tuesday and seemed to be in good spirits. His left arm was not in a sling. In fact, he held a water bottle in his left hand at times.

But Noah will be sidelined at least two weeks with a left shoulder sprain, which happened in the third quarter of Monday's 105-102 loss to Brooklyn at the United Center.

“Jo had an MRI this morning and it's a sprained shoulder. It will be re-evaluated in two weeks,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said after practice at the Advocate Center. “He's obviously very sore today. That shoulder popped out of joint for a brief second. So he's going to be sore and stiff. So it's going to be rehabbing in the next couple of weeks, then we'll re-evaluate him from there.”

So Noah will be out at least two weeks. Whether it takes longer than that before he's back on the floor remains to be seen.

“I don't know. Maybe two (weeks), maybe four,” Hoiberg said. “I just don't know yet.”

Noah's numbers haven't been at their usual level this season. He's averaging 8.8 rebounds in 4.5 points in just 22.3 minutes of action, but his energy has given the team a lift in the last few weeks when the second unit started playing especially well.

With the Bulls suddenly struggling with three straight losses, Noah's presence will be missed. He ranks third in the NBA in rebounds per 48 minutes, behind Andre Drummond and DeAndre Jordan.

“He's an important player, brings a lot of energy to what we do,” Pau Gasol said after Monday's loss. “If he misses games, it will be harder. When a guy goes down, there's an opportunity for another guy to step up.”

This news probably means the end of Monday's experiment with Nikola Mirotic joining the starting lineup at small forward. That move was done mostly to give rookie Bobby Portis more playing time, but he'll probably end up taking many of Noah's minutes.

Portis had 6 points and 2 rebounds in 14 minutes against Brooklyn. The Bulls started a tall front line of Mirotic, Gasol and Taj Gibson, while Tony Snell did not play at all.

Noah's injury occurred with 30 seconds left in the third quarter when he slapped down on a shot attempt by Brooklyn's Andrea Bargnani. Noah was called for a foul on the play.

The Bulls center immediately pulled away and ran down the floor with his left arm hanging limp at his side. After a few seconds, Noah headed toward the locker room, but stopped in the tunnel and spent a few moments doubled over in pain.

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