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By John Denton
Feb. 28, 2016
ORLANDO – Evan Fournier’s first missed game of the season on Sunday night created another first for the Orlando Magic – the first start of rookie Mario Hezonja’s NBA career.
Fournier, who has played well following the break for the NBA All-Star Game, originally injured his right wrist on Tuesday and struggled throughout Friday night’s loss in New York. He tested out the wrist on Sunday afternoon, but he was in too much discomfort to play against the Philadelphia 76ers.
That opened up an opportunity for Hezonja, the No. 5 pick in last June’s NBA Draft. The rookie played especially well in the two weeks before the NBA All-Star Game, but his play has been hit or miss in the past week. Magic coach Scott Skiles has tried to hold the 6-foot-8, 218-pound guard accountable for his errors this season, refusing to play him simply because he is a high draft pick. Skiles feels that the native of Croatia has made significant progress since the beginning of the season, but his defense and attention to detail still need work.
“What we’re trying to do with him – for lack of a better way to phrase it – is bring him up the right way. That’s what we’re trying to do,” Skiles said. “There’s no entitlement minutes, not as long as I’m the coach. There’ll be no entitlement minutes. He’ll have to earn them. And that’s what we’re trying to impress upon him.”
For the season, Hezonja is averaging 5.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists while shooting 42.3 percent from the floor and 33.6 percent from 3-point range. He’s scored in double figures 11 times this season, including a career-best 17 versus Boston back on Jan. 31.
Fournier, who has started 49 of the 57 games that he’s played in, ranks third on the team in scoring at 14.2 points per game. He scored 20 or more in three straight games after the all-star break – 23 against Indiana, 21 versus Philadelphia and 20 against Golden State. But he struggled through a three-of-10 shooting night on Friday in New York. Prior to Sunday night, Fournier – who will be a restricted free agent this summer – was the only Magic player to not miss a game.
MORE CRAZINESS FROM CURRY: With Stephen Curry’s 51-point, 10 3-pointer performance from Thursday night still fresh in their minds, the Magic were all abuzz Sunday morning following the record-setting guard’s shooting display in Oklahoma City.
Curry, the likely MVP of the league for a second straight year, is still on the minds of the Magic what with them scheduled to face the surging Golden State Warriors next Monday (March 7) in Oakland. If Golden State wins its next two games – against Atlanta and a rematch against Oklahoma City – the game against the Magic next Sunday would have a 45th consecutive home victory on the line for the Warriors. That would break the all-time NBA record set by the Chicago Bulls from 1995-96.
Saturday’s game wasn’t at home for Golden State, but it was still a record-setting night for Curry – who set a new NBA mark for consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer (128 games) on Thursday in Orlando. On Saturday on Oklahoma City, Curry hit 12-pointers – the final one coming on a 32-foot shot in the final second to lift the Warriors to a 121-118 victory.
The 12 3-pointers tied the previous NBA record held by Kobe Bryant and Donyell Marshall. But it was the final one – the game-winner from two steps inside the half-court line – that lit up social media and had the Magic buzzing on Sunday morning before practice.
“That what ridiculous, unbelievable the shots that he’s making right now,” gushed Magic guard Aaron Gordon, who grew up a Warriors fan while living in nearby San Jose, Calif. “They’re very difficult shots to make, to say the least. Like I said when he played us, it’s just amazing to see how consistently he does it.”
Magic coach Scott Skiles, who raved about the unselfishness and humility of Curry last week, once again marveled at the difficulty with which Curry drilled shots on Saturday night. Curry banked in a 44-footer at the end of the third quarter versus the Magic on Thursday and drilled several shots on Saturday over the outstretched arms of shot-blockers such as Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams.
“I would argue that he made tougher shots (Saturday) night than he did against us,” Skiles said of Curry, who has hit 22 of his last 31 3-pointers and he’s 11 of 22 from 30 feet or more this season. “There were times when he was completely fading away and it’s almost like half of his body isn’t even facing the basket. I had to use the words “throwing them in” and it’s not because it’s his shot, but it’s amazing. I’m trying to understand why people keep backing up when he’s bringing the ball up. You’ve got to try to get up on him and at least make him drive by you and get off the line because he’s really hot right now.”
BACK-TO-BACKS: Upset with his team’s lack of energy in Friday’s loss in New York, Skiles said that the Magic should be a high-energy squad in back-to-back sets of games because of the youth on the roster.
However, that hasn’t been the case of late and it certainly wasn’t true on Friday as the Magic seemed a step slow defensively and they were very sloppy on offense in a 108-95 loss to a New York team that came in having lost 13 of 15 games.
This season, Orlando is 7-4 in the first game in scenarios when it plays on back-to-back night. Conversely, the squad is 4-8 on the second night when having just played 24 hours earlier.
That’s a troubling sign what with the Magic scheduled to play seven back-to-backs in March and eight the rest of the way. The next back-to-back is a game in Dallas on Tuesday followed by a home game against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday. Four of the remaining back-to-backs have at least one home game and one road game being played on consecutive nights, meaning there will likely be a good bit of travel in between the games.
“We have to focus on getting our rest because it’s never an easy thing to do playing back-to-backs, especially later in the season,” said power forward Jason Smith, Orlando’s most consistent and productive player off the bench all season. “For us, we’ve just got to take care of our bodies the best we can and do the best that we can.”
