Stan Van Gundy mentally preparing to contest playoffs without Dwight Howard – NBA Update
Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy has said that he is now mentally preparing to play without Dwight Howard for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs. Dwight Howard did not play in Sunday night’s win against Cleveland Cavaliers after being diagnosed with a herniated disc on Friday night in Los Angeles. This was his fourth straight game that he missed due to the injury.
Stan Van Gundy said before the match against Cleveland that Dwight Howard and forward Hedo Turkoglu would be a bonus and he is going into the playoffs mentally prepared that they will not be able to make it into the team. He said:
“We’re approaching it that the 13 (healthy) guys we have now are who we’re going to have the rest of the season and in the playoffs.”
Howard did join his team for the trip to Cleveland but stayed back at the team hotel when Orlando played against Cleveland. It was initially reported that Howard’s back injuring was just back spasms. However, Howard made a trip to Los Angeles last week where he met a specialist back doctor who diagnosed a herniated disc in Howard’s lower back. He will now rest the injury for 10 days and then he will be re-evaluated.
The Orlando Magic are 2-4 in the games played without Howard this season after Sunday’s win over Cleveland. They are currently ranked 6th in the Eastern Conference, 4 wins clear of 7th placed Philadelphia. It is highly improbable that they will lose their position in the conference as there are only a few games left in the regular season, but they would face a charging Indiana Pacers in the first round if the positions remained as they are now at the end of the season.
That would be a difficult first round matchup, especially if Howard does not make it back by then. He is their star centre and arguably the best defender in the league at the moment with an average of 14.5 rebounds and 20.6 points per game.
Turkoglu has been sidelined with a facial fracture. He played his last game on April 5th. Turkoglu has been averaging 10.7 points per game this season and is shooting 34.9% from beyond the arc. The loss of these two players at this juncture in the season is a huge blow to Orlando’s playoff aspirations.
However, coach Van Gundy has selected his starting five in their absence who had a go on Sunday night against Cleveland. Glen Davis at centre cannot fill the space left void by Howard, but is doing a good job in the last few games. Ryan Anderson and Jason Richardson start as forwards in the injury depleted Orlando team and J.J Redick and Jameer Nelson form the backcourt. Nelson had a particularly good night against Cleveland, scoring 21 points and dishing 9 assists in the process.
Injury to Dwight is the latest of a series of sagas that has been surrounding the Orlando team this season. It started with rumours about Dwight leaving Orlando at the end of the season. But Dwight squashed all rumours when he signed with Orlando for another year.
Then the Magic coach Van Gundy came out in a press conference and said that Dwight Howard wanted him fired. Howard has since been denying any such demand. But the whole saga resulted in a sort of falling out between the coach and the All Star centre. Amidst all this controversy and drama, the Orlando performance seems to have declined, with the Magic 3-7 in their last 10 games.
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