The Orlando Magic won’t have Franz Wagner obtainable for Sunday’s Sport 7 matchup versus the Detroit Pistons. The fifth-year ahead is listed as out on the newest NBA damage report with a strained proper calf.
Wagner, 24, will miss his third consecutive playoff sport after struggling the calf damage late in Orlando’s Sport 4 win over Detroit. He returned to the sideline to trip an train bike, however didn’t return to the sport. An MRI examination the following day revealed the pressure.
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That 94-88 victory gave the Magic a 3-1 sequence lead and advancing to the second spherical appeared imminent. Nevertheless, the Pistons have since come again to win the following two video games, together with Friday’s beautiful Sport 6 comeback through which Orlando squandered a 24-point lead and scored solely 19 factors within the second half.
Wagner was the Magic’s second-leading scorer throughout the common season, averaging 20.6 factors, 5.2 rebounds and three.3 assists per sport. He additionally shot 35% on 3-pointers. However Wagner appeared in solely 34 video games as a consequence of a high-ankle sprain.
Within the 4 playoff video games he performed earlier than getting injured, Wagner has been Orlando’s third-leading scorer at 16.8 factors per sport, capturing 33% on 3s whereas additionally averaging 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and a pair of.8 steals.
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Would the Magic have already closed out this sequence if Wagner had been obtainable? In his place, Jamal Cain scored three factors and Tristan da Silva added 10 off the bench in Sport 6.
It’s definitely attainable Wagner would have shot as poorly as his teammates (35% from the ground). Paolo Banchero hit 4 of his 20 photographs, Desmond Bane shot 7-of-18 and Jalen Suggs went 1-for-10.
Orlando’s season is at stake, however Wagner’s absence signifies how significantly calf accidents are at the moment considered within the NBA. Groups have taken further warning with therapy and restoration, particularly when calf accidents have usually developed into season-ending Achilles accidents.
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The Magic and Pistons tip off for Sunday’s Sport 7 from Detroit’s Little Caesars Enviornment at 3:30 p.m. ET.