Nerlens Noel surprisingly played on Tuesday with Joel Embiid getting in foul trouble and he received a standing ovation from the Philadelphia 76ers' home crowd.

The 76ers had announced that Noel would be out of the rotation as they manage the four centers on their roster in Noel, Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor and Richaun Holmes.

"I loved it. He's my best friend on the team, and I was really happy for him," said Embiid. "He's been working his ass off too. The other day [he] was in the gym just working with Richaun [Holmes], playing one-on-one, two-on-two, so I felt really happy for him and I thought he should have played more.

"I also want to get on the court and see what we can look like together, because I like him and want to play with everybody. I feel like if we are trying something, we should try the other thing too. So hopefully in the future they do that.

"Because I have some type of relationship with him, I think I'm going to get him going, especially on the defensive end. Being aggressive, blitzing every pick and roll, just flying all over the place, I think we can really do that while we're on the court, and then offensively I'm sure we are going to figure it out. But I mean it's a team game, so just going to go out and compete every night with what we have."