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By John DentonApril 8, 2016
ORLANDO – When they worked together on the basketball court and got along off of it, Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway evoked comparisons to the greatest center/point guard duos of all time and they once had the Orlando Magic at the zenith of the basketball world.
But when the two all-stars feuded – both over control of the Magic back in the mid-90s and over which was the bigger superstar when it came to hawking sneakers – it played a major role in the breakup of a burgeoning dynasty in Orlando.
O’Neal and Hardaway, teammates with the Magic from 1993-96, collaborated on the making of “This Magic Moment,” an ESPN 30-for-30 film that will air to the public on April 14 at 9 p.m.
The Magic held an early screening of the full-length film for their staffers on Thursday night at Disney Springs. Fox Sports Florida analysts Brian Hill and Jeff Turner – Orlando’s head coach and a reserve power forward on the Magic teams in the mid-90s – and long-time voice of the Magic David Steele attended the event along with hundreds of Magic employees.
The film documents how Orlando overcame the odds and landed a NBA franchise and then defied even bigger odds to get the No. 1 picks in 1992 and ’93 to end up with O’Neal and Hardaway (via a trade with the Golden State Warriors). Those two helped the Magic reach the 1995 NBA Finals and the ’96 Eastern Conference Finals, but the young squad was swept out of both series.
O’Neal left the Magic following the 1996 season, partly because of his feud with Hardaway and his desires to pursue off-court ventures in Los Angeles.
Throughout the film, O’Neal and Hardaway talked about what could have been had they stayed together and gotten along while starring for the Magic.
“Shaq and Penny were great and a lot of fun to work with on the film,” said John Dahl, Vice President and Executive Producer of ESPN Films. “You’ll see in the opening of the film and in the closing that we play off the personality of those two. It’s a remarkable story of what they were quickly able to ignite here in Orlando. It ultimately didn’t work out in terms of championships, but it certainly put Orlando on the national map in a hurry.
“They look back on (their time in Orlando) with very warm memories,” Dahl continued. “I think there was some regret that they should have stayed together and stayed longer (in Orlando) because they really had something special in the works. That didn’t end up working out, but Shaq certainly seems to regard Orlando highly to this day, and Penny the same.”
GORDON’S GAINS: Regardless of whether or not Magic forward Aaron Gordon plays again this season – he suffered a concussion on Wednesday night – he has made remarkable gains as an all-around player this season, Magic head coach Scott Skiles said.
Gordon was hit in the left side of his head – between his eye and his temple – by an accidental elbow from teammate Jason Smith on Wednesday. Remarkably, Gordon stayed in the game and did postgame interviews before complaining of headaches and concussion-like symptoms after the game.
Whether or not Gordon returns for the final three games – in Miami on Sunday, at home against Milwaukee on Monday and in Charlotte on Wednesday – will depend on how he quickly he sheds the symptoms and how he responds to the tests placed before him as part of the NBA’s concussion protocol.
The 6-foot-9, 220-pound Gordon played in 77 of the first 78 games, starting 37 of them. He’s averaged 9.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists a game for the season and his game started to blossom even more as a starter as he’s posted 11.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists. Gordon has 15 games this season with 10 rebounds and he’s consistently been one of Orlando’s best defenders.
“He’s settled down as a player and that generally comes with more experience,” Skiles said of Gordon. “He’s done a way-better-than-average job on defending some bigger people. Also, with the NBA way and the nuances of the game, he’s picked those up much better. All around, he’s gotten a lot better.”
ROOKIE RACE: While Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns is expected to be the runaway winner of the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award, the rest of the players in the rookie class have struggled to put together much consistency throughout the NBA’s marathon season.
That, of course, includes Magic rookie Mario Hezonja, the No. 5 pick in last June’s NBA Draft. The 21-year-old Hezonja has seen his playing time rise and fall throughout the season because of difficulties on the defensive end of the floor and questionable shot selection from time to time.
Hezonja, who is averaging 17.1 minutes a game, came into Friday night tied for 17th in the NBA in scoring among rookies (5.7 ppg.) – a few spots behind Miami rookies Josh Richardson (6.6 ppg.) and Justise Winslow (6.5 ppg.).
Skiles said he hopes that Hezonja sees the play of fellow rookies such as Richardson and Winslow and is inspired by his need to make improvements in his game. Hezonja has developed Skiles’ trust with his progress defensively and with his passing skills, but he still wants the guard/forward to push himself to be better in the immediate future.
“I’d hope that he looks at the other guys and say, `I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ve got to get better,”’ Skiles said. “That’s common thing among all players, but particularly with rookies, you should be looking at your peers. And if somebody is better than you or playing better than you in a two-or-three-week span, that should be motivation that’s you’ve got to get better. Some rookies naturally look more like veterans and with some it just takes a little bit longer.”
