Nikola Vucevic left Wednesday’s game in the third quarter with a sprained right knee. The Orlando Magic scrambled well, but a long-term absence could hurt.
Nikola Vucevic could tell something was very wrong shortly after he took the fateful step.
Early in the third quarter, Vucevic cut into the lane to get post up position and received a pass against Dwight Howard. As he drove the ball, he planted his right leg and it just gave way.
Vucevic did not collapse into a heap, but he immediately picked up the ball and began moving away from the play and the basket. Traveling did not matter. Nor did Ty Lawson taking the ball from him and trying to star the fast break. The officials called a late foul on Dwight Howard for trying to swipe at the ball and hitting a bit of hand.
Vucevic though was already on the sideline. Now he had made it to the floor and was clearly in a lot of pain and discomfort.
The official diagnosis from the team was a sprained right knee. He did not return to Wednesday’s 119-114 overtime loss to the Houston Rockets, having played just 16:45, scoring six points to go with two rebounds.
Vucevic walked off the floor under his own power and was checked out on the sideline before moving to the locker room. He is scheduled to have an MRI when the team returns to Orlando on Thursday.
“The pain was very sharp,” Vucevic said after the game (via FOX Sports Florida). “I got very scared. But luckily it was just a sprained knee. We’ll see tomorrow. I will get it re-evaluated and see what’s the extent of the injury.”
Until those results are known, the Magic are likely holding their breath.
The options behind Vucevic are somewhat limited and Vucevic remains a big part of what the Magic hope to do offensively as one of the team’s most consistent players.
The Magic did buckle down after Vucevic departed Wednesday. Orlando posted a 91.8 defensive rating with Dewayne Dedmon playing the majority of the minutes with Nikola Vucevic out of the lineup. Dedmon played a little more than 23 minutes as the primary backup center with Aaron Gordon next to him for much of the evening too.
Dedmon is obviously a much more defensive-minded center, although Vucevic has posted better defensive numbers this year. It would be expected to see the Magic make a bump up in defense.
Also an extenuating circumstance, after the Magic struggled mightily defensively in the first half, it would be easy to expect the Magic to improve dramatically on that end to stay in the game. That appeared to be what the Magic did as they used their defense and relied on their defense to stay in contact with the Rockets and eventually make their run to force overtime.
Still, even with the extent of Vucevic’s injury unknown, there has to be some curiosity of whether the Magic could survive any long period of time without Vucevic in the lineup.
In the small sample size of this season, Orlando has a 98.3 offensive rating with Vucevic on the floor and a 103.5 defensive rating. The offensive rating is slightly better than the Magic’s early-season average of 97.0.
With Vucevic off the floor, the offensive rating drops to 94.9, but the defensive rating drops dramatically to 91.9 too.
One would imagine most of those minutes without Vucevic on the floor have Dedmon playing — Dedmon’s on-court offensive rating/defensive rating split is 95.1/85.9.
As expected, the Magic’s offense suffers drastically without Vucevic, but the defense improves mostly when Dedmon is on the floor. This is not anything new.
The question Scott Skiles has had to answer early on this season is how much of an offensive drop off is that defense worth. And all these early season numbers are just that — early season number. No patterns have set in.
Wednesday night, the Magic found a defensive anchor in Dedmon. He was active protecting the rim and did a good job rotating and protecting the paint while disrupting passing lanes. The Magic increased their focus defensively and played better in the second half.
But Dedmon also fouled out by the end of the game. He is averaging 7.1 personal fouls per 36 minutes. It would be extremely difficult to play him the majority of the minutes.
And the Magic may have learned just how deep they can go with their centers.
While Dedmon proved to be a good defensive addition with his rim protection, his back up Jason Smith struggled mightily on the defensive end, at least to the eye.
Smith got burned on numerous occasions by Dwight Howard’s speed and power inside. Smith, having to step up to cut off dribble penetration lost contact with Howard on several occasions, leading to easy buckets for Howard.
Those defensive breakdowns may not have completely been Smith’s fault, but Vucevic has been better at tracking back to defend those plays and Dedmon is very skilled at exactly that play.
And despite the Magic posting an 83.0 defensive rating in the 4.5 minutes Smith played after Vucevic’s injury and the Magic’s 86.3 defensive rating with Smith on the floor this season, it is pretty clear in watching him Smith is not a strong defender. Small sample size theater is very much in effect. Skiles often pulls Smith before he makes too many defensive mistakes.
That sample size could get much bigger if Vucevic has to miss time. Orlando will have to scramble a bit more defensively and adjust to two completely different centers. Orlando may even have to throw Channing Frye in at center — which would be possible more effective offensively, but no one would be sure what that would mean defensively.
The Magic’s rotation was clearly designed for Smith to play limited minutes and provide a small offensive boost at one of the two post positions. And Dewayne Dedmon’s inconsistency handling his foul trouble makes him more ideal for those reserve minutes rather than a full starting role.
Starting Dedmon at this point might be rolling the dice and hoping he can survive on the floor for 30 minutes.
Vucevic, for all his strengths and warts, is vitally important to this team. Orlando was able to survive for one game, but it would have been nice to have that consistent offensive threat in the paint to calm the Magic down late in the game — or at least provide an easy target when things broke down.
Vucevic could be out for a while, for a little or no time at all. None of that will be known until he gets his MRI on Thursday. But losing Vucevic would be a big hit to the Magic and leave them scrambling a bit at center on both ends of the floor.