By John DentonNov. 12, 2015
ORLANDO – If any teammate on the Orlando Magic can offer advice to concussed guard Victor Oladipo, it is center Nikola Vucevic.
Vucevic suffered nasty concussions on March 19, 2013 and Jan. 6, 2014 – blows that knocked him out of five games and 12 games over a 10-month period.
Oladipo accidentally collided with teammate Dewayne Dedmon in the first quarter of Orlando’s 101-99 defeat of the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night. Oladipo hit the side of his head on Dedmon’s shoulder and the blow made him woozy as he tried to run back down the court on defense.
After being removed from the game, Oladipo began experiencing concussion-like symptoms and he subsequently failed a doctor’s test, according to Magic head coach Scott Skiles.
Oladipo did not return to the game – one in which Vucevic won by making a game-winning, fade-away shot as time expired. On Thursday, as the Magic (4-5) prepared to face Utah on Friday at the Amway Center, the Magic big man’s concern was for Oladipo’s recovery from a concussion.
``Concussions are tough and I dealt with a pretty big one two years ago when I fell on my head. With those ones you have to take your time because it’s your brain and the most important part of your body,’’ Vucevic said. ``You have to be smart with it. You can’t take risks with it, try to be a hero and come back too early.’’
Already hit by injuries to C.J. Watson (calf strain) and Jason Smith (sore knee), the Magic now will likely have to pick up the slack in the very near future without Oladipo. In addition to averaging 14.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.6 steals a game, Oladipo had been playing all-league caliber defense, according to Skiles. Oladipo’s loss leaves a big hole in the Magic on both ends of the floor and it’s one that the team must address before Friday night.
Oladipo, 23, is now a part of the NBA’s concussion protocol, meaning that he will be monitored closely by doctors over the next few days before he is allowed to resume basketball activities. He will ultimately need to be symptom-free after inactivity, conditioning work and basketball drills before he is allowed to return to the practice and then game action.
The Magic started the second half of Wednesday’s game with Aaron Gordon at small forward and Evan Fournier at shooting guard. Magic coach Scott Skiles said on Thursday that Shabazz Napier – who had 22 points and five 3-pointers against the Lakers – deserves more playing time and he could play shooting guard in some lineups. Also, prized rookie Mario Hezonja and second-year wing player Devyn Marble should see more playing time with Oladipo out.
``It’s very unfortunate, but we can’t feel sorry,’’ said Fournier, the Magic’s leading scorer this season at 18.7 points per game. ``We have to play harder and everybody has to step up – just like when (Vucevic) was out. We know we’re going to be fine. We have the right pieces to compete even without Vic. It’s just a matter of intensity and focus.’’
At immediate issue for the Magic is their defensive slippage of late – something that was glaringly obvious on Wednesday night without Oladipo on the floor. The Magic allowed the Lakers (1-7) to shoot 49.4 percent even without star guard Kobe Bryant on the floor.
This season, Oladipo has held players he’s guarded to just 4.6 field goals a game and those guards have shot just 35.3 percent, according to statistics on NBA.com.
Orlando entered Saturday night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers ranked first in the NBA in field goal percentage allowed (40.4 percent at the time), but they have since slipped to seventh in the NBA (42.1 percent allowed). Orlando has endured long stretches of not being able to get consistent stops against Philadelphia (45 percent shooting and 11 3-pointers), Indiana (44.2 percent shooting and 11 3-pointers) and the Lakers (49.4 percent shooting and seven 3-pointers).
Skiles, who made defensive improvement the top priority from the start of training camp, pointed out several ways on Thursday in how the Magic have regressed on the defensive end of the floor.
``We’ve had pretty significant slippage,’’ Skiles said. ``Guys were good (on Thursday) and we had a good practice today getting back to trying to address some of the things we haven’t done as well. Hopefully we’ll get some carryover.’’
Getting Vucevic back in the starting lineup should help the Magic because of the center’s progress on the defensive end of the floor. Not coincidentally, Orlando struggled to get stops while Vucevic missed three games with a bone bruise in his right knee. He was cleared to play an hour before tipoff on Wednesday, came off the bench for the first time in three-plus seasons and capped an 18-point night with his high-arching shot over the outstretched arms of 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert.
``Last night, I did say that (the game-winning shot) was lucky, but I have worked on that a lot and I did feel confident going in there that that would be the shot that I would take,’’ said Vucevic, who is second on the team in scoring (16.2 ppg.) and second in rebounding (7.5 rpg.). ``With Roy being there on defense I knew I had to throw it up. And once I released it, I had a pretty good feeling (about it going in). In the Washington game (a season-opening loss), as soon as I released it I saw that it was off. This one, I felt like I had a pretty good chance.’’
It wasn’t so long ago that Vucevic was dealing with an injury much more serious than a bone bruise in his knee. In March of 2013, Vucevic collided with Hibbert when the center was still a member of the Indiana Pacers. He was ruled to have suffered a concussion that knocked him out of five games and 11 days of action.
On Jan. 6, 2014, Vucevic suffered the scariest injury of his career when he jumped for a blocked shot and had his legs cut out from under him by Clippers power forward Blake Griffin. Vucevic’s neck and head hit the floor hard, leaving him woozy and out of the game.
That concussion was far more serious and in addition to being out for 12 games and 23 days, Vucevic had to deal with nausea, headaches and sensitivity to light. The injury showed him just how serious concussions are – advice that he hopes to be able to pass along to Oladipo in the coming days.
``With your brain you have to make sure that you do everything that the doctor tells you and you rest it,’’ Vucevic said. ``You can’t be on your phone or even watch TV and it’s tough to do that these days. Vic just has to be smart with it and take his time. It’s hard to say how you feel too because you have a headache and it’s there, but it’s not. It’s just something that (Oladipo) is going to have to be patient with, listen to the doctor and be smart about it.’’