Orlando Magic are on the verge of being taken out by injuries

This season has been going downward in a spiral ever since Markelle Fultz went down with his ACL injury.

But it did not stop with Fultz.

The injuries have continued to pile on, and it seems when the Orlando Magic get one guy back, two more go down. The Magic are on the verge of their breaking point as this fast-paced season continues.

The team has spent the capital of their hot start, losing 15 of their past 19 games and having to catch up to the playoff race — 1.5-games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the final spot in the play-in tournament.

The injured list is only growing.

The Orlando Magic’s injuries have seen them slip down the standings and struggle to stay afloat. The team is scrambling to build a rotation and keep their playoff hopes alive.

Cole Anthony strained his shoulder in Tuesday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Clifford said that even Friday he was still in noticeable discomfort. It did not seem like he was close to returning.

Al-Farouq Aminu too left Tuesday’s game when his hamstring tightened after returning from a knee injury that kept him out for 14 months.

Friday night in the Orlando Magic’s 123-112 win against the Sacramento Kings, the injuries continued as James Ennis left the court with an injury. It now leaves the Magic with eight active players on the roster with Evan Fournier still out, but supposedly getting closer to a return.

Both Ennis and Fournier are still listed as questionable.

Fournier probably put the situation best during Thursday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors after Frank Mason went down with a sprained groin:

Coach Steve Clifford is still preaching optimism. He will not call what the team is in right now a rut. It is just a team trying to scramble through injury. The goal for the team right now is to try to collect a few wins and stay in the race for when the team is finally healthy.

The injuries are certainly a big reason why the Magic have fallen flat, even if the team was coming down to earth before Fultz’s injury toppled the pyramid. But, it might still put Orlando in a hole the team might not come out of.

In a season where games are being postponed for teams that are not able to play eight players because of COVID-19 protocols, the Magic are one injury away from having to postpone games with no COVID-19 related issues on the team.

Clifford looked down at his box score following Thursday’s game and openly admitted the team would be in trouble if the team had to continue with those minutes.

With Mohamed Bamba barely getting minutes, even in this situation for whatever reason, the Magic are going to rely largely on seven players in the immediate future.

It is going to result in the same outcome as Thursday night against the Golden State Warriors, even with their best efforts. A game where the Magic play well, but fatigue caught up with them. And it was too much to handle.

The Magic handled it better in the second night of the back to back against the Kings. Only Dwayne Bacon played more than 35 minutes with Nikola Vucevic topping off at 34 minutes. Bamba went from playing seven minutes in Thursday’s loss to nearly 14 minutes in Friday’s win to help spell the starters.

Michael Carter-Williams’ return certainly helped too. Although even Carter-Williams had to pull extra duty, blowing past whatever minute restriction he had before the game. He ended up playing 27 minutes in Friday’s win.

This is probably not sustainable for the team if they want to win consistently. And the Magic still have not won consecutive games since Fultz’s injury in early January.

Orlando Magic

While players are close to coming back, Clifford is going to have to play Bamba and jumble his rotations, especially in a situation where there are only eight healthy players.

It is forcing the Magic to try out unused lineups and rotations just to piece together a working playing group and get through the game.

This would also be the perfect time to test out a line-up where Mohamed Bamba and Khem Birch play together. While players are out, it is best to experiment with lineups that could, in the end, prove surprisingly effective. It would also reward Birch for his play and finally give Bamba a fair chance of playing meaningful minutes.

This would also be a good time to give Chuma Okeke closing minutes and eventually promote Okeke to be the starter. He is also getting more minutes at small forward out of necessity, forcing him a bit out of his comfort zone as he gets into rhythm with his first NBA action.

Okeke is shooting decent from beyond the arc at 31-percent and has shown skills that were not as evident as before. Okeke is a much better defender than given credit for and seems comfortable with the ball in his hands.

With the injuries, this is the right time to give their young players more minutes and responsibility.

It may still be a little while before the team has anything resembling close to full health for this season.

Clifford has to find a way to play all eight players and in situations that can maximize their skills to get through the game. This includes Bamba if they want a chance to win any of these games.

That will not be easy. Admittedly, it is not easy. Orlando is just piecing things enough to get through each game and each day at this point. And the NBA season is still unforgiving.

The Magic still have to find their way to play and scratch out wins or the season will get lost at this point of the season.