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By John Denton
Dec. 9, 2015
PHOENIX – By choice, standout forward Tobias Harris is one of the Orlando Magic’s first starters to arrive at arenas before games. Harris likes to keep to his routine of getting up dozens of shots early on and then do some reading and visit the chapel service to get his mind calmed before the opening tip.
Nicknamed “All Business” because of he takes his craft so seriously, Harris is almost always dialed in and ready at the opening tip and it shows in how he starts games.
In Orlando’s first 21 games of the season, Harris is averaging significantly more points in the first quarters of games (5.2 points) than he does in second quarters (2.5 points), third quarters (3.9 points) and fourth quarters (3.3 points). And over the Magic’s previous seven games – six of them being victories – Harris has averaged 6.6 points while making 60.7 percent of his shots.
In addition to taking the Magic’s first shot in the past five games before Wednesday night, Harris opened Tuesday’s victory in Denver with nine points in the first quarter and 15 of his 17 points came in the first half.
“I’ve been getting a lot of good looks off the cuts and running the floor and I’ve been able to take advantage of them,” said Harris, who averages 14.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists a game. “In the second half when they show on me (defensively) a little more, we’ve been able to move the ball around and get other guys open shots. That’s how basketball goes and that’s why we’ve been able to be successful.”
NOTEABLE WIN: The Magic’s 85-74 win in Denver on Tuesday was significant because they found a way to win a game when they didn’t play well most of the night. That, maybe more than anything else, is a true sign of growth for this Orlando team.
The 74 points allowed by the Magic were the fewest they have surrendered since Nov. 21, 2012 – a 90-74 defeat of the Detroit Pistons. According to Elias Sports, it also was the first time that the Magic have won when scoring 85 points or fewer in the past 20 games.
The Magic were able to win the low-scoring game because of the drastic improvement in their defense – both on Tuesday night and over the season. Orlando yielded just 10 second-half field goals and 11 fourth-quarter points to the Nuggets. On the season, Orlando has shaved 4.5 percent off what it is allowing foes to shoot in games from last season (46.3 percent) to this season (41.8 percent). That’s the biggest improvement in the NBA from last season.
Also of note from Tuesday, the Magic missed their first 15 3-point shots before finally getting a three from Evan Fournier with 2:38 to play. That extended the Magic’s streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 677 games – an active streak that dates back to March 17, 2007.
FOURNIER’S CONFIDENCE AND PAYTON’S PASS: What made Fournier’s clutch shot even more impressive was the way that he disregarded how he was playing earlier in the game and how he’s struggled recently.
Fournier missed his first six shots on Tuesday, but he still had the confidence to take the shot that came with the Magic up just two points in a tense moment. Since starting the season averaging as much as 19.6 points over the first 14 games, Fournier has fallen into a puzzling funk of late. In the seven games before Wednesday night in Phoenix, Fournier averaged just 9.3 points per game while shooting just 37.9 percent from the floor and 34.6 percent from 3-point range.
“That was a courageous shot and we needed a basket there and he could have sort of collared out of that,” Magic coach Scott Skiles said. “He wasn’t making shots, so that was a good sign. I keep saying that he’s going to break out and have a big game. He just needs to play the way that he can play. He’s had some balls go in and out on him and he just needs to make good decisions with the ball.”
What made the play even more unique was the fact that it came off a play call from point guard Elfrid Payton. Skiles said he’ll often draw up specific plays out of timeouts, but on that sequence he allowed Payton to set up Fournier for the game-sealing shot.
There’s a method to the madness, Skiles said, and it involves the Magic preparing to someday play big playoff games in hostile environments.
“Elfrid made the call. (Everyone) can see, I’m not up micromanaging the game offensively,” Skiles said. “I’m doing that for a couple of reasons. Number one, I want the point guards to learn and think the game on their own.
“Number two, the reality is if we want to get to where we want to get we’re going to be in (playoff) environments where communication is almost impossible because of noise,” Skiles continued. “In a Game 5, a Game 7 – something like that in other team’s buildings – the players on the floor have to take control of the situation and they’re not going to do it (if he makes every play call during the regular season). They’re going to do it because they learned to do it through the course of the season.’
