By John Denton
March 18, 2015
DALLAS – A season full of stops and starts hit another speed bump on Tuesday night when Tobias Harris felt his left ankle buckle, and the subsequent pain knocked him out of Wednesday’s game in Dallas.
Harris, Orlando’s third-leading scorer and one of its unquestioned locker room leaders, has already missed time this season with a calf strain (two games), an ankle sprain (five games) and a bruised right knee (three games).
Harris, a restricted free agent at season’s end, hurt his ankle on Tuesday when he drove on the break for a layup and he landed on the foot of Donatas Motiejunas. Harris went to the locker room and had his ankle taped tighter, and he attempted to play in the second half. However, he said the pain and instability were too great and he left the game just minutes into the second half.
``I wouldn’t say it’s a bad ankle sprain, but today it didn’t feel well enough to play,’’ said Harris, who went out on the court a couple of hours before the game and tried to test the ankle before shutting it down. ``I can play on a little bit of pain, but that wasn’t the case. I’ll rest today and see how it feels in the next couple of days. It’s going to be like a thing where I have to see how it feels and how much I’m able to tolerate.’’
Harris’ injury was compounded on Wednesday night by the additional loss of power forward Dewayne Dedmon (ankle sprain) and Willie Green (back spasms). Orlando started Channing Frye at power forward in place of Dedmon, while Maurice Harkless got his second start of the season in place of Harris.
Dedmon also suffered his injury on Tuesday, and while he continued playing through the pain, the swelling and stiffness were too much to play on in Wednesday’s game.
``It was on the break and (Corey) Brewer had a layup and I came down wrong and I kind of heard a pop or something. I didn’t realize it was that bad, but I just kept playing on it,’’ said Dedmon, a starter at power forward the past eight games. ``I wouldn’t say it’s severe, but it hurts. I definitely just have to take a day off, rehab and try to get it better.’’
Harris has averaged 16.9 points for the season, but he’s had to work his way back into the groove after each of his injuries. He scored 16 points against Golden State following the calf strain and 19 against Detroit after the ankle sprain. However, following his bruised knee, Harris mustered just four points and it took him more than a week to regain his usual form.
``It’s been tough (stopping and starting), but it’s part of a season,’’ he said. ``There’s been a little bit of stopping and starting but I don’t think this (ankle sprain) is going to hold me out for too long. We’ll see how it feels, but I think I should be back out there sooner rather than later.’’
EVERYONE’S LIVE: Immediately upon taking over the Magic on Feb. 5 as the team’s interim coach, James Borrego informed all of the players that they had to stay ready because their number could be called at any time to play.
Borrego has been a man of his word, changing up his rotation of players several times in an effort to find combinations that benefit the Magic the most. At times, Borrego has turned to Maurice Harkless and Andrew Nicholson.
On Tuesday in Houston, Borrego once again went away his regular rotation once again and turned to guard Ben Gordon and power forward Kyle O’Quinn. Before Tuesday, Gordon had failed to play in 12 of the past 20 games and he was even put on the inactive list for a couple of games. As for O’Quinn, he had failed to get into six of the previous 10 games after being passed in the rotation by Nicholson.
On Tuesday, Gordon made four of his first five shots and scored 11 points in the first half. He finished with 13 points. O’Quinn played just four minutes, but it was a glimmer of hope for a player who had begin to wonder about his role in the rotation.
``The bench has to stay ready and the bench was ready for us (on Tuesday night),’’ Borrego said. ``I thought Mo Harkless was big for us at the start, Kyle gave us some good minutes, Luke (Ridnour) came off and gave us some good minutes. I’m really proud of that group to help us and keep themselves ready.’’
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