The Orlando Magic, who’ve been on a scorching streak, might get two integral elements of the staff again in Friday’s dwelling sport vs. the San Antonio Spurs.
Wendell Carter Jr. (strained proper plantar fascia — the comfortable tissue beneath the foot) and Gary Harris (strained proper hamstring) have been upgraded to questionable on Thursday’s damage report, making it doable they may return.
Carter informed the Orlando Sentinel earlier within the week that he was focusing on Friday for his return after lacking 17 consecutive video games since Nov. 19, and 18 of the final 19.
Harris has missed the final 11 video games.
He sat out the season’s first 15 video games due to left knee damage restoration following arthroscopic surgical procedure in late August on torn cartilage, returning within the Nov. 18 street win over the Chicago Bulls.
Harris averaged 10.3 factors (47.9% capturing — 52% on 2s, 43.5% on 3s) and a pair of assists in six video games (25.8 minutes) earlier than leaving the Nov. 30 loss to the Atlanta Hawks due to hamstring tightness.
Carter stated he and the Magic had a plan in place for him to return on Friday, earlier than the staff went on a four-game street journey that ended with Wednesday’s 116-110 win over the Houston Rockets.
“It’s been feeling a lot better,” Carter informed the Sentinel. “Been able to ramp it up a little bit more. I should be out there pretty soon.”
Carter has been simulating sport motion with the coaches and the “low-minute guys” to prepare.
“That’s the only way you can kind of replicate it,” he added. “We agreed on doing it about 2-3 times before getting back in the games.”
He had certainly one of these classes Saturday between the Magic’s victories in Boston and he’d deliberate to have yet one more Tuesday.
“They want to make sure I don’t go out there and tweak something because it hasn’t had that same stress,” Carter stated. “Hamstrings, quads, whatever the case may be. They just want to make sure I ramp it up to the point where it might not be exactly how the game will be but it’s close enough to where my body can start to get re-acclimated and be good to go.”
His first absence got here throughout the Nov. 16 dwelling loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. He performed within the win over the Bulls — his former staff — earlier than being sidelined for greater than a month.
Carter informed the Sentinel on Nov. 30 he hoped to be out for 1-2 extra weeks, which might’ve been an absence of fewer than 4 weeks, however he’s remained out to provide his foot extra time to heal.
“I definitely thought it was going to be a 1-to-2 week thing,” he stated. “But I by no means had it earlier than, so it was sort of a brand new damage for me. My physique didn’t actually reply to it that properly. It was taking some time to really heal. After speaking to a few docs, [and] getting a few opinions, they informed me it was one thing I needed to play with.
“It’ll be a little uncomfortable but it’s no risk of me damaging it anymore. It gave me a little bit more peace of mind.”
Carter has averaged 16.6 factors (51.5% capturing — 59% on 2s, 34.6% on 3s), 9.1 rebounds and three.3 assists within the 15 video games (32.9 minutes — all begins).
He informed the Sentinel on Nov. 18 he had performed by way of 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 he aggravated the damage attempting to play by way of it in that win towards the Bulls.
“Every step I took, it felt like I was stepping on glass,” he added. “It’s slowly gotten better to the point it’s tolerable. I can play through a lot of pain but I just couldn’t do it when it first happens. It’s manageable for sure.”
The Magic (12-21), who went on a nine-game dropping streak from Nov. 19-Dec. 5, have received seven of their previous eight.
They’ve gone 7-2 because the minutes restrictions for guards Cole Anthony and Markelle Fultz have been lifted after their returns from damage, with wins over the Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors (twice), Hawks, Celtics (twice) and Rockets.
The Magic have had the league’s sixth-best web ranking (plus-5.1) throughout this stretch with an offensive ranking of 114.1 (twelfth) and a defensive ranking of 108.9 (seventh).
“We’re really now starting to show we belong,” Anthony stated after Wednesday’s win. “It’s not just kind of a fluke. We’ve done it for a pretty good stretch of basketball. I just pray we get everyone healthy and start getting some dudes who aren’t healthy back. We’re a super-talented team and we’ve got a chance to do some things.”
Holiday spirit
Carter . hosted a vacation celebration for 65 children from the Boys to Men Mentoring group Thursday night at The Orlando Repertory Theatre. Carter and the Magic offered them with dinner and a vacation present bag.
The Magic additionally delivered $100 Kroger present playing cards to 25 underserved households round Central Florida as a part of their vacation grocery supply shock.
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at [email protected] or observe him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com