Noah suffers knee contusion in Bulls' opener, status for Wednesday unknown

The Chicago Bulls escaped with an opening-night win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on the strength of two huge last-minute defensive plays, but both came with perhaps their best defensive player on the bench.

Center Joakim Noah suffered a right knee contusion in the fourth quarter after banging knees with Cavs forward Richard Jefferson, and did not return to the game.

For Noah, who's trying to put an injury-plagued season behind him while transitioning to an unfamiliar bench role, an injury is not exactly an ideal way to start the season - especially considering he went scoreless (without a field-goal attempt) in the 17 minutes he played before the collision. He was hampered primarily by knee problems last season, though those were in his left knee, which had been surgically repaired the offseason prior.

This injury doesn't appear to be a significant setback. Noah's status for Wednesday night's game against the Nets in Brooklyn is unknown, but expect the Bulls to exercise caution, even though the New York native said it would be hard to sit out a game in his hometown.