Orlando Magic Fortunate on Injury Front, Study Finds

Injuries and illness didn't do much damage to the Orlando Magic in the 2011/12 season, at least not compared to the league's other teams, according to a spreadsheet (.xls download) the Philadelphia 76ers' director of statistics created, first published by NetsDaily, SB Nation's New Jersey Nets blog. Nine Magic players missed a total of 62 player-games during the season, the third-lowest figure in the league: only the 76ers (six players, 43 games) and Phoenix Suns (six players, 22 games) had better luck with injury and illness.

Of course, a huge caveat applies here: the numbers do not account for the talent level of each player who was injured. The Magic lost Dwight Howard, by fair their best player, for 12 games during the 2011/12 season. If one counts their first-round playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers, then that number increases to 17 games. And the Magic went just 5-12 with Howard sidelined.

The spreadsheet also doesn't account for the timing of the injuries: Howard and Hedo Turkoglu, two of the team's regular starters, missed some time concurrently as the season drew to a close.

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