Sean Williams did a double take when he heard that teammate Yi Jianlian required 50 stitches for a gash in his lip.
“Fifty? Is that a misprint?” Williams asked.
Williams was the guy who delivered an inadvertent elbow to Yi Saturday during some 3-on-3 pickup after practice, knocking Yi out for about another week.
Yi, who had hoped to return to playing yesterday for the first time since the season’s fourth game Nov. 2 when he sprained his knee, walked off under his own power. But then he required surgeons to repair a damaged muscle in the lip.
“It just happened,” Williams said. “He wanted to keep playing actually. He was like, ‘Come on.’ ”
Interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe found the bright spot, noting Yi’s knee will be “fully recovered” when he returns.