The very fact that Howard said Wednesday he can't guarantee whether he'll play tonight -- possibly missing his the third consecutive game -- should give fans pause.

Howard said his left knee "isn't bothering me now," and the Magic front office appears more cautious than concerned. But the Magic's two-time all-star underwent an MRI on Tuesday, will begin wearing a knee brace and start having his practice time closely monitored until further notice or be held out of some practices altogether.

Howard participated in a limited workout on Wednesday, but wasn't sure he could face the San Antonio Spurs tonight at Amway Arena.

"Hopefully," Howard said. "It depends on how I feel."

Howard, 23, always used to be a sure thing, at least through a team-record 351-consecutive-game streak that abruptly ended last week when he sat out the last two games of a recent road trip.

The club said Howard's MRI showed no damage, only arthritis or inflammation that has bothered him off and on this season. He already has been held out of several practices to give the knee a rest.

Shooting guard J.J. Redick did not practice Wednesday because of a sore foot. Shooting guard Mickael Pietrus returned to practice after missing nine starts with a torn thumb ligament.

Pietrus said he did not expect to play tonight in a game that tips off another show-and-tell stretch for the Magic, the Southeast Division leaders at 19-6. They're two games ahead of last season's record of 17-8 after 25 games and just one game off the franchise's best-ever start at 20-5 in 1994-95.

Fresh off a 4-1 road swing, the Magic face a daunting homestand against the Spurs, the 20-3 L.A. Lakers on Saturday, the Golden State Warriors on Monday and the 14-7 New Orleans Hornets on Christmas Day.

"I don't know about a litmus test because it's too early to make one game or two games bigger than anything else," Coach Stan Van Gundy said. "But yeah, it's a huge challenge."

Howard was his upbeat self after Wednesday's workout, showing little worry and trying to pass off the soreness in his knee as "a bruise . . . like when you bruise your elbow."

"It's not bothering me right now. It was good, actually," Howard said. "I don't think it's going to be a problem that will stop me from doing the things I do best. . . . It's not chronic."

Van Gundy said Howard "looked fine" in practice, and added his injury is "nothing that can't be managed."

He has a plan in place to accommodate Howard's knee.

"We just have to manage him as we go so we're not pounding on him too much," Van Gundy said. "There'll be some days he doesn't practice at all. There'll be some days he does a little bit of what we do and some days when he can do pretty much of everything."

Van Gundy called it "an overuse" injury -- saying Howard's participation with Team USA the past three summers likely played a role -- and figures most NBA players perform with various aches and pains.

Assistant coach Patrick Ewing, a Hall of Fame center, said he developed pains in his knees even when he was as young as Howard.

"I had all that stuff. Dwight's just has to deal with it. It's another step for him in the evolution of being an NBA player," said Ewing, who played until he was 39, finishing his 17-year career in Orlando in 2002.

Howard said having to manage the injury or having to sit out practices will not affect him.

"No, I don't think so," he said. "We just run the whole practice anyway."