Cody Zeller bleeds all over after inadvertent elbow from Joakim Noah

Despite losing 10 pounds over two weeks due to severe dehydration, Charlotte Hornets center Cody Zeller felt well enough to play in his team's Tuesday night home game against the Chicago Bulls. The decision seemed sound over his opening eight minutes as the first man off the bench. A Zeller dunk gave the Hornets a 39-20 lead just a few seconds into the second quarter, and he appeared ready to contribute over the full course of the game.

[Play Yahoo Daily Fantasy and get a 100% deposit bonus with your first deposit]

Zeller's positive turn of events was cut short a couple possessions later due to some bad luck. As Zeller attempted to create a position for a potential defensive rebound, Joakim Noah's elbow inadvertently struck him in the head on his way down from a jump. The Hornets big man immediately fell to the floor and began to spew blood from the bridge of his nose.

Those with strong stomachs can take a look here:

And here's the point of impact, which does not look like a great time for Zeller:

[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]

The good news is that Zeller was able to return after receiving eight stitches and finished with six points and five rebounds in 16 minutes.

The Hornets didn't stop performing well, either — they wound up blowing out the Bulls 130-105 behind a stellar offensive performance that featured seven players in double figures (led by Jeremy Lamb with 20 points on 9-of-10 FG) and 14-of-24 shooting from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Derrick Rose struggled to just four points on 2-of-8 from the field for his third-straight single-digit scoring game.

- - - - - - -

Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @FreemanEric