The Orlando Magic have had absolutely rotten injury luck. And Friday it got a whole lot worse for a team already leading the league in games missed.
In quick succession, Ignas Brazdeikis, Mo Bamba, Terrence Ross, R.J. Hampton and Moritz Wagner all entered health and safety protocols. Cole Anthony ended up missing the game too with a sprained ankle he tweaked in Wednesday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
Then disaster struck during Friday’s game against the Miami Heat.
Early in the second quarter, Wendell Carter was executing a dribble handoff when he appeared to bang knees with another player. As he tried to dive down the lane, he started hopping and almost immediately went to the ground. He tried getting up and running back into the play but could not.
Carter was helped off the floor and then taken off in a wheelchair. The Magic ruled him out with a lower leg injury.
Carter will be re-evaluated in the morning. At the time of this writing, the plan was for him to travel with the team to New York for Saturday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.
Add him now to a list that was already five players deep of long-term injuries, many of them starters and rotation players.
The Orlando Magic had to scramble to fill their roster as their injury luck continued to get worse. All the team could do was fight and try in their game Friday.
Chuma Okeke said the whole day felt like a snow day after the team was sent home from its shootaround after the positive tests came back and they waited for word on whether the game would even be played.
To field a roster that could even legally play, Orlando had to sign four players from their G-League roster, adding familiar faces in B.J. Johnson, Admiral Scohield and Hassani Gravett along with forward Aleem Ford.
This is about as all hands on deck as it gets. The Magic are trying to climb out of a deep injury hole. Along with being a rebuilding team still trying to find its way as a group.
The Miami Heat won 115-105 at Amway Center on Friday. But it was not without a fight. The Magic kept coming at them and kept fighting back.
"“I absolutely loved our team’s effort,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Friday’s loss. “I loved the way they played. I loved the way they competed. I love the way they battled to the end. We keep talking about how that’s the identity that we have and we’re going to keep building on that.”"
They fought back after giving up 21-4 run to end the first quarter after taking an early 18-8 lead. They fought back after Max Strus scored 20 of his 32 points in the second quarter, hitting eight 3-pointers total. They fought back after Gabe Vincent made four 3-pointers to score 18 of his 27 points in the third quarter.
They fought back after trailing by 18 points in the fourth quarter to bring the deficit back to single digits at nine points.
Again, Orlando just could never get the one shot or the one stop it needed to bring the deficit back within reach. The final nail in the coffin was Chuma Okeke’s lone turnover, a fumbled ball directly to P.J. Tucker that found its way back to him so he could lineup and drain a three.
You cannot knock this team’s fight. But playing with so many players down and with so many new guys trying to integrate so quickly, there is only so much you can do.
"“You’ve got to be professional and go to work and try your best when the ball is thrown up and it’s time to hoop,” Franz Wagner said after Friday’s loss. “It’s obviously a big challenge for everybody because the guys coming from Lakeland they don’t know really know how we play. It’s definitely not easy for all of us. I really like how confident they came in and played their game.”"
If there is going to be anything to take away culturally and developmentally from these games while the Magic deal with their COVID outbreak, it will be the effort and fight they put in to try to scratch and claw their way through all these games.
That has been a characteristic Mosley has extolled all season. It will need to come to the front now.
Wagner took on ball-handling duties and scored 27 points to go with six rebounds and four assists to lead the team. Okeke scored a season-high 18 points to go with 10 rebounds and six steals as he suddenly found his range to make 4 of 8 3-pointers.
Robin Lopez filled in as the only center on the roster for much of the game, scoring 18 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Veteran guard Gary Harris had 20 points and five assists.
Everyone pitched in as much as they could. The team knew it would be difficult to integrate the new players on the fly. Indeed, the team’s bench lineups struggled to generate much offense or get stops.
They still were as scrappy as they could be.
"“I think that’s just us as a team,” Okeke said after Friday’s game. “We’re always going to go out and play hard. That is coming from us just playing because we love the game. That’s where it starts and it’s always going to be that way. No matter what problems we have going on off the court, we’re still blessed to play the game and we try to play it the right way.”"
The new guys certainly had their struggles. It was clear they were fresh to the team. As a foursome, they tallied 15 points on a combined 6-for-16 shooting.
Orlando is still getting stretched thin. And defenses know it. The Heat sent traps to Wagner and Okeke throughout the game to try to speed them up and push them into mistakes.
Each time, they were able to get themselves back and make a play, whether it was Wagner slashing to the basket or driving into the lane or kicking it to the next open guy (often Okeke) or Okeke setting himself up for a three off the dribble.
There was a lot of confidence and urgency in the way the Magic played.
"“I think everybody had the same mindset that we all have to be a little more aggressive and also stay within our game too,” Wagner said after Friday’s game. “We didn’t really talk too much about Miami, just more about our principles and what we want to do.”"
Orlando will certainly need to keep this mindset as the schedule continues.
There is no sense of when the team might get some of its injured players back. And even though it is assumed most of the players in COVID protocols are vaccinated, that would still leave them at least two days (two negative tests more than 24 hours apart) from rejoining the team.
It seems likely the Magic are going to have to roll with the group they have, as stitched together as they are, for at least the time being.
That can probably help the team grow parts of the identity and mentality they want to have, even if the execution remains imperfect. The Magic seemed to get some energy from the adversity and seemed to be more dialed in and energetic than they have been for a while.
"“We talk about this group of guys wanting and willing to rally around one another,” Mosley said after Friday’s game. “You talk about the guys coming over from Lakeland they fought just the same. That’s the chemistry we’re building and the togetherness we’re building and we’ll continue to grow with that. They did a fantastic job rallying around one another and continuing to fight against a very good Miami team.”"
The injury luck is something the team cannot control. And assumedly, it will end at some point with players returning from long-term injuries seemingly soon.
But it is hard not to feel the air sucked out of the room again.
This Magic team did not let that happen. They kept fighting. Maybe that is something.