It was a mixed bag of injury news at the Wolves’ shootaround today. Jeff Teague will likely be returning to the starting lineup tonight against the Magic after a nine-game absence but Robert Covington will miss extended time after an MRI revealed that he sustained a bone bruise on his knee in a late-game collision in New Orleans. Derrick Rose is still day-to-day.
The Wolves have had a run of injuries and they now have to deal with more bad luck after Covington’s diagnosis. Bone bruises are tricky, it’s hard to speculate how long exactly Covington will be out. What is for certain is that the Wolves will need to adapt to his absence.
“On the court it’s a big blow for our team,” said Karl-Anthony Towns. “He’s a great defensive player obviously, but just the energy and the character and just the pure passion he brings to the game for us is contagious. It’s about more of us having to pick up his load and spread it around the team.”
Rose was feeling better today, but still wasn’t running at full speed or making his cuts and turns as fast as he wanted in shootaround.
“Just taking it day by day,” he said. “I think I came back early that Chicago game and so I’m just learning from my mistakes.”
Getting Teague back will be big for the Wolves, who have been undermanned at the guard spots for the last few games. This could be a good game for Teague to start getting back into a rhythm—Orlando does not have the strongest backcourt. Getting Teague back into the flow of things would be a massive boon for the Wolves. Teague has had some great moments this season but he’s also been hurt a lot.
“I just can’t stay away from the injury bug,” he said. “I got back from the knee I felt great then I rolled my ankle two times in one game. Ever since then it’s been a struggle but hopefully I can get back on the right track, get a feel for a game, get into a flow.”
Teague said watching the games from the bench has been good to get a sense of what the Wolves need from him. His main takeaway? Get the ball to Towns and Andrew Wiggins, both of whom have been playing extremely well the last few games. Outside of that, the Wolves just need to put their heads down and win with the guys they have on the floor.
“We got fifteen talented players on our roster, we all can step up,” said Teague. “It’s tough not having your guys that you want there, but you just got to figure out ways to get wins, and tonight’s a win that we desperately need.”