Darko Milicic Will (Begrudgingly) Play Today

Darko Milicic sprained his ankle the second-to-last game of the regular season, which raised immediate concerns about his availability in the playoffs. Fortunately for the Magic, it looks like he'll play ... not that he's too happy about it. From Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel:

The Magic have nudged Milicic onto the court, despite the fact he has a sore right mid-foot.

It's not the best situation for Milicic. He might not be able to perform at his best against his old teammates, plus he's trying to get a whopping contract this summer as a restricted free agent.

"I'm still hurt, but I'm going to try," Milicic said, in a rambling, contradictive stream-of-consciousness response. "I'm not happy with it. . . It really doesn't hurt that much. I want to play.

"I'm mad."

Asked if he wanted to wait a few more days, Milicic said, "I made a decision."

I hate calling a guy soft, but what else can you call it? A lot of guys in the league would have to be in a full-body cast before they'd accept sitting out. While Darko deserves some credit for pushing forward, you don't get points if you whine about it.

Darko has always come across as perhaps a bit too proud for his own good -- he's admitted to being embarrassed about the crowd chanting his name during garbage time minutes while he was in Detroit, and it showed with his lackluster play when he got into the game. With that in mind, I imagine he's not thrilled about the fact he'll be less than 100% against his former team, but still it's not like he had much success against Detroit while he was healthy this year, either, averaging less than six points and five boards in four games. Far be it for me to interpret what's really going on in his head, but it certainly seems like he's creating a built-in excuse now for when people criticize his play after the series.