While falling to the Nets on Saturday night, the Magic did more than simply lose the game: they also lost any shot at moving up to the No. 2 seed as well as both Hedo Turkoglu and J.J. Redick to injury. Fortunately, being locked into the No. 3 seed isn't all bad, especially if you subscribe to the theory that the Magic needed to avoid a first-round matchup against the Pistons, who have beaten the Magic 17 times in 20 games since the beginning of the 2006-07 season.
Dwight Howard wasn't sweating a possible matchup with Detroit, but there's no denying that the Magic have fared better against Philadelphia and Chicago in the past. Since 2006, the Magic are 8-2 against the 76ers and 9-2 against the Bulls.
The injuries, on the other hand, are more concerning, especially considering the Magic will kick off the postseason within a week. Turkoglu had to be helped off the court on Saturday after spraining his right ankle in the fourth quarter. He's not only the team's third-leading scorer, he's also one of the team's biggest playmakers, averaging nearly as many assists (4.9) as starting point guard Rafer Alston (5.3).
When you also consider that Turkoglu is also the team's best shooter in the clutch, it's clear the team will be in a lot of trouble if he's not able to bounce back quickly. At the very least, he'll miss Monday's game in Milwaukee.
With Rashard Lewis also sitting as a precaution with tendinitis in his right knee, the Magic will be without two-thirds of its starting frontcourt at a time when it should be fine-tuning for the playoffs. Instead, players are dropping like flies and the Magic have played sloppy in two straight losses. Stan Van Gundy, for one, isn't pleased:
"We deserved to get dominated and I don't see any signs of that changing," Van Gundy said, virtually repeating his post-game eulogy from Friday night's lazy loss to the New York Knicks in Orlando. "It's bad and only getting worse. We don't seen very determined to change it."At this point it's premature to think Orlando will be without either Turkoglu or Lewis come playoff time, but there's a good chance both players will be at something less than full-strength.
Testing the team's backcourt depth is Redick's situation. He has a history of back problems, and he left Saturday's game in the third quarter with back spasms. His minutes can easily be gobbled up by Mickael Pietrus and rookie Courtney Lee, but Lee appears to have hit the rookie wall, recording a season-high in minutes (31.9) but a season-low in field-goal percentage (.317) in seven games thus far in April.
