Times wires
Saturday, April 2, 2011
ORLANDO — Last month, before his team embarked on a pivotal stretch against several of the league's top squads, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said he was content playing 10 guys before deciding how to pare down his playoff rotation.
With six games to play, though, Van Gundy simply hasn't had that option anymore.
"I couldn't play 10 guys if I wanted to right now," he said after his team's final practice Saturday before traveling to Toronto today. "It's sort of crazy right now."
Over the past several weeks, sixth man J.J. Redick, backup point guards Gilbert Arenas and Chris Duhon and forward Quentin Richardson have all missed time because of injury or illness.
Redick has missed 11 straight games with a lower abdominal strain. Duhon has been out two games with a ligament strain in his right thumb. Arenas played five straight games after resting a sore left calf and knee but has missed two in a row with an illness. And Richardson is back on the floor but recently missed three games with back spasms.
The Magic will have only nine players for the third straight game tonight.
It has resulted in more questions around an already perplexing Magic team in its final push before the postseason.
"The only thing for us that has been tough is that we haven't had the same guys out, so it's been hard to get into any type of rhythm," Van Gundy said. "We go into New York and we have Gil and Chris, but we don't have Jameer (Nelson). Then we go to Atlanta and we don't have Chris or Q, but we've got Jameer and Gil. Then we go into (Friday) night and we don't have Gil or Chris, but we have Q back.
"So it's really hard to get into any kind of playing rotation and consistency in the way you play. And I think that's shown up in the way we play."
What is pretty much a forgone conclusion is that the Magic is snugly in the No. 4 spot in the East and will likely meet division mate Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs.
And despite a tough stretch in March, when the Magic went 9-6 with a schedule that featured 10 games on the road, there are glimmers of progress since the All-Star break.
The Magic is fourth in the NBA in overall opponents' field-goal percentage, allowing teams to shoot 43.6 percent. And after some early struggles, starting forward Hedo Turkoglu is starting to show flashes of the offensive threat that helped the Magic reach the NBA Finals in 2009. Over the past 13 games, Turkoglu is averaging 15.4 points and 5.3 assists.
Magic center Dwight Howard, who believes Orlando has the pieces to make a Finals run this year, said the recent injury bumps can't be a crutch.
"Just be consistent and play hard every night," Howard said. "When we went to the Finals, we were exhausted. We had put so much in and I don't think we had anything. But that's not an excuse for why we lost. We've been there once, and we want to get back."
The one piece, of course, that the Magic can't allow anything to happen to is Howard. Van Gundy was able to get him some rest in the second half Friday night against Charlotte but said he probably won't let Howard sit out an entire game before the playoffs.
"It would probably just be a reduction of minutes," Van Gundy said. "If I did ever sit anybody down, it would mostly likely be on the second night of a back-to-back or something like that. I won't rest him on the last night."
AROUND THE LEAGUE: The Bulls held center and former Florida Gator Joakim Noah out for the third straight game Saturday night against the Toronto Raptors because of a sprained right ankle. … Timberwolves forward Kevin Love didn't make the trip to Memphis because of a strained left groin. … Celtics center Nenad Krstic has a bone bruise in his right knee and is day to day. He was hurt Thursday night against the Spurs.