One factor has been clear in the course of the Orlando Magic’s current stretch of losses: They miss Wendell Carter Jr.
The Magic (5-17) have misplaced six straight and 7 of their final eight after Wednesday’s 125-108 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Amway Center largely as a result of their defensive score (factors allowed per 100 possessions) and defensive rebounding price have plummeted in Carter’s absence.
Their lone win within the final two weeks got here towards the Bulls in Chicago on Nov. 18, the one sport Carter has performed since his first absence within the Nov. 16 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves due to strained proper plantar fascia — the comfortable tissue beneath the foot.
Carter’s set to overlook his eighth sport within the final 9 due to the damage in Friday’s street matchup vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers (14-8). It’s the primary night time of a back-to-back, with the Magic enjoying the Raptors in Toronto Saturday.
He advised the Orlando Sentinel forward of Wednesday’s loss that his foot is feeling higher as he rests, including he hopes to return inside 1-2 weeks — a fluid timetable that’ll be impacted by how the damage progresses and responds to his rehabilitation.
Carter would no less than miss Saturday’s sport on the Raptors and Monday’s sport vs. the Milwaukee Bucks at Amway Center, which kicks off a five-game homestand, if he’s sidelined for an additional week.
The Magic play the Los Angeles Clippers (Dec. 7), Toronto Raptors (Dec. 9 and Dec. 11) and Hawks (Dec. 14) as a part of that homestand earlier than having a four-game street journey that begins with a baseball-style collection towards the Celtics in Boston on Dec. 16 and 18. The street journey ends with matchups towards the Hawks (Dec. 19) and Houston Rockets (Dec. 21).
If he’s sidelined for 2 weeks, he’ll sit for the matchups towards the Clippers and Raptors. The Dec. 14 sport vs. the Hawks is precisely two weeks from when Carter spoke with the Sentinel.
Carter’s averaged 16.6 factors (51.5% taking pictures — 59% on 2s, 34.6% on 3s), 9.1 rebounds and three.3 assists within the 15 video games (32.9 minutes). He’s the one Magic participant with a constructive particular person plus/minus, with plus-0.3..
He advised the Sentinel on Nov. 18 he had performed via the damage for 5-6 video games earlier than being sidelined for the primary time towards the Timberwolves, which means he had been coping with it for many of November.
Carter stated the damage received “really bad” after the house loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Nov. 14 through which he had 20 factors, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in 32 minutes, leading to him sitting vs. Minnesota.
He stated he aggravated the damage making an attempt to play via it in that win vs. the Bulls, evaluating his signs to feeling like he was strolling on glass.
Carter’s not frightened about additional injuring the foot however doesn’t wish to damage one thing else by enjoying whereas compensating for the damage he already has.
“Knowing my body, knowing when I got pain I’m going to start favoring stuff, I didn’t want to end up hurting something else because I’m favoring something on my foot,” he stated. “There’s really no specific thing you can put on it to stop it from hurting. It’s just about tolerance, putting heat on it and stuff like that.”
Carter’s sporting a boot and is doing cardio that doesn’t drive him to bear weight on the foot, reminiscent of an train bike.
While he hopes to return inside the subsequent couple of weeks, that’ll depend upon how he responds to remedy within the coming days and weeks.
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at [email protected] or comply with him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com