Analysis: The Spurs and Magic have endured adversity. Other teams are looking for answers

On By Pranco

Associated press

Adversity hits every team in the NBA at some point. Someone is guaranteed to get hurt or sick. How these challenges are handled can make or break a season.

Orlando and San Antonio are currently finding a way.

New Orleans and Philadelphia are among the teams that aren’t.

The Magic have gone 9-1 in their last ten games, all without the injured Paolo Banchero – the team’s best player and an All-Star last season. They trail only Cleveland and Boston, another pair of teams that haven’t let injury issues stop them from a blistering start in the Eastern Conference. The Spurs have finished 7-5 since Gregg Popovich suffered a stroke, leaving assistant coach Mitch Johnson as acting coach.

These two teams are perhaps the best examples of how not to let adversity get in the way of winning.

“Mitch is really smart, a great teammate in the coaches room,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr, a close friend of Popovich and someone who spent time with Johnson through USA Basketball in recent summers — including camps in Las Vegas before the 2023 World Cup . and this year’s Olympic Games in Paris “He was a big part of all our conversations before and after training. He’s a very good coach, a good guy. I know Pop loves him and I feel that very strongly. a good coach he is.”

It can be seen. The last time Spurs – who have also played without striker Jeremy Sochan in recent weeks and played a few games without star player Victor Wembanyama – had a better record in seventeen games was in the 2017/18 season.

Johnson has done an impressive job of keeping things together during a difficult time.

“You look around the league, there’s a lot of injuries and guys out, so it’s just something where you’re trying to get everyone prepared and it’s the next man up,” Johnson said. “But it’s nice to see everyone embrace that, don’t they.” only for themselves, but also for their teammates.”

The Magic predictably went through a struggle after Banchero was injured: they started 0-4 without him and lost those games by an average of 14.3 points. And then Franz Wagner – who would go to San Francisco for the All-Star Game – took a huge leap forward, averaging 27.6 points in his last 11 games.

“I think he’s found a new level of confidence, and we need that,” Magic forward Jonathan Isaac said. “You know, now that Paolo is going down, he has clearly taken a step further and realized what this team needs. We need him to be aggressive and just score the basketball. I think he’s just stepped into that role, and he’s been dominant, he’s confident and he’s doing his thing.

The Magic have made playing without a star look easy. It’s not. Take the Phoenix Suns: they are 8-1 with Kevin Durant, 1-6 without him. Durant is expected to return from a calf injury on Tuesday night when the Suns take on the Los Angeles Lakers.

Memphis is an example of weathering the storm: the Grizzlies won 5-3 in Ja Morant’s eight-game absence, which ended Monday night.

The Pelicans aren’t just missing one big name. They have been decimated by injuries: Dejounte Murray missed his 17th game Monday night with a broken left hand, and three other Pelicans — Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum and Herb Jones — have all missed at least 12 games while injured. That’s why New Orleans is 4-14, one of the worst starts in the league.

“We’re going to figure it out and fight and claw like we normally do,” Pelicans forward Trey Murphy said.

The 76ers say they will do the same, but they have missed many of their best fighters – with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Kyle Lowry among those who all missed time due to injury.

The result is a 3-13 start, the second-worst record in the NBA. The only upside for Philadelphia right now is that it is in the East, where only four teams currently have winning records.

“We’re 16 games in. It’s a long season,” Maxey said. “Either we lie down and let teams come in here and have field days against us, or we go out there and play with some pride and go out and win some games.

“We get it,” he added. “I got hurt. Jo got hurt. Kyle got hurt. P got hurt. There’s guys in and out of the lineup. Yeah, we understand that. That’s not ideal. But we can all do one thing every night, 1 through 15, go out there, know the game plan and play extremely hard, every night.

That’s the adversity part. The Spurs and Magic seem to have figured it out. The Pelicans and 76ers are among those still searching for answers.

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