Basketball : NBA 2011/2012

Detroit Pistons rookie guard Brandon Knight left Saturday's game with the New Orleans Hornets after breaking his nose. Knight appeared to suffer the injury after catching an elbow from teammate Greg Monroe while battling for a rebound in the first quarter of the game. Knight is averaging 12.9 points per game, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in his first season after being drafted eighth overall by the Pistons out of the University of Kentucky.

Denver Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov left Friday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers with a leg injury. Mozgov was injured after making a layup with in the third quarter. After he scored, Mozgov landed on left leg and then fell to the floor in pain. He went straight to the locker room with the help of teammates Kenneth Faried and Chris Andersen. The Nuggets said after the game that X-rays were negative.

Center Jason Collins has left Thursday's game against Memphis after he sprained his left elbow. Collins was averaging just 11.3 minutes and 1.1 points a game, but at least gives the Hawks another big body in the middle. The Hawks are already without All-Star Al Horford, who is expected to miss most, if not all, of the regular season after undergoing surgery for a torn left pectoral muscle.

Gerald Henderson will miss two to four weeks with a strained right hamstring. The Bobcats guard/forward, who is averaging 15 points and 4.4 rebounds this season, suffered the injury in Wednesday's 112-68 loss to Portland. It's the same injury that has sidelined Bobcats forward Corey Maggette for the last 15 games. The Bobcats are also without starting point guard D.J. Augustin.

Jason Kidd will be out at least a week because of a strained right calf. The Mavericks guard was hurt in Friday's game victory against Utah. The 38-year-old Kidd is averaging 4.1 points and 5.1 assists per game this season. Meanwhile, Dirk Nowitzki started Sunday's game against San Antonio following a planned four-game hiatus to strengthen his sore right knee and do conditioning work. The NBA finals MVP averaged 17.5 points and 5.4 rebounds a game in starting the first 16 games for Dallas.

The Philadelphia 76ers signed free-agent veteran center Francisco Elson on Friday. The signing provides the Sixers depth in the frontcourt as Spencer Hawes and rookie Nikola Vucevic have battled injuries over recent weeks. Hawes has missed six consecutive games with a strained left Achilles tendon while Vucevic has sat out the last two contests with a quad injury. In 62 games with the Utah Jazz last season, Elson averaged 2.2 points and 1.9 rebounds.

Originally scheduled to miss only four games with a sore right knee, Dallas Mavericks star forward Dirk Nowitzki could possibly be out longer, he said Thursday. Nowitzki, who will miss his fourth game against the Utah Jazz on Friday, said a decision on his return will be made closer to game time before Sunday's matchup against the San Antonio Spurs. Coach Rick Carlisle says Nowitzki has made progress, though Carlisle isn't guaranteeing Nowitzki will play Sunday.

Andrew Bogut is out indefinitely after fracturing his left ankle in the first quarter of Wednesday's game in Houston, another injury setback for the Milwaukee Bucks center. He missed a game earlier this month with concussion-like symptoms, and that followed a four-game absence to attend to a personal matter back home in Australia. Bogut has averaged 11.3 points, a team-high 8.3 rebounds and a team-high two blocked shots in 12 games this season.

Al Jefferson sat out Wednesday's game against Toronto because of an inflamed right ankle he re-injured in the team's morning shootaround. The Utah Jazz center missed one game earlier this season with the same injury. Jefferson leads the Jazz with 18.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, swingman Josh Howard was expected to play after missing four games with a strained left quad.

The Bobcats have announced that guard D.J. Augustin is expected to miss the next four games with a right toe injury. Tests confirmed an inflammatory condition of the sesmoid bones that lie in the flexor tendons on Augustin's right big toe. The injury has been bothering Augustin for months, but he re-aggravated it during Sunday's game at New Jersey. Augustin is averaging 13.6 points and 6.6 assists per game for the Bobcats this season.