One factor has been clear throughout the Orlando Magic’s latest 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 charge have plummeted in Carter’s absence.
Their lone win within the final two weeks got here in opposition to 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 mushy tissue underneath the foot.
Carter will miss 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 entrance finish of a back-to-back, with the Magic enjoying on the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.
Gary Harris (strained proper hamstring), Jonathan Isaac (left knee damage restoration), Chuma Okeke (left knee soreness) and Jalen Suggs (proper ankle soreness) will sit Friday.
Harris exited Wednesday due to proper hamstring tightness. Okeke will miss his fifth consecutive sport whereas Suggs will sit for his fourth straight sport.
Mo Bamba (again spasms) is questionable.
Carter informed 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.
He would at the very least miss Saturday and Monday’s sport vs. the Milwaukee Bucks at Amway Center, which kicks off a five-game homestand, if he’s out for an additional week.
The Magic play the Los Angeles Clippers (Dec. 7), Raptors (Dec. 9 and 11) and Hawks (Dec. 14) at Amway earlier than a four-game street journey that begins with a baseball-style collection in opposition to the Celtics in Boston on Dec. 16 and 18. The street journey ends with matchups in opposition to the Hawks (Dec. 19) and Houston Rockets (Dec. 21).
If he misses two weeks, he’ll sit for the matchups in opposition to the Clippers and Raptors. The Dec. 14 sport will probably be precisely two weeks from when Carter spoke with the Sentinel.
Carter’s 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). He’s the one Magic participant with a constructive particular person plus/minus, with plus-0.3.
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 in opposition to the Timberwolves, which means he had been coping with it for many of November.
Carter mentioned the damage acquired “really bad” after the house loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Nov. 14 by which he had 20 factors, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in 32 minutes, leading to him sitting vs. Minnesota.
He mentioned he aggravated the damage making an attempt to play by way of it in that win vs. the Bulls, evaluating his signs to feeling like strolling on glass.
Carter’s not anxious about additional injuring the foot however doesn’t wish to damage one thing else by compensating for it.
“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 mentioned. “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 is sporting a boot and doing cardio that doesn’t drive him to bear weight on the foot, equivalent to utilizing an train bike.
How he responds to therapy would be the information.
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