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By John DentonNov. 26, 2014
ORLANDO – The Orlando Magic don’t know if they will have forward Tobias Harris, guard Evan Fournier or power forward Kyle O’Quinn tonight against the loaded Golden State Warriors, but they do know that they will be wearing sleeved jerseys for the first time in their 26-year history.
The Magic (6-10) will debut their new silver ``Pride jerseys,’’ sleek, fitted uniforms that will have sleeves that differ dramatically from the traditional tank-top look. The sleeved uniforms are silver with blue numerals, giving the Magic four looks to go with their home whites, road blues and alternate black jerseys.
In the days leading up to tonight’s 7 p.m. game against the surging Warriors (11-2), Magic players have donned similar-looking jerseys in practice to get used to shooting jump shots and free throws with the sleeves.
Whether or not Harris (calf strain), Fournier (quad bruise) or O’Quinn (ankle sprain) are wearing the sleeved jerseys or not will be a game-time decision. Regardless of the circumstances, Orlando has adopted a ``no excuses’’ policy where it doesn’t want to point to injury losses or sleeved jerseys as reasons for not playing well.
``I’m looking forward to playing in these because they look nice and it’s going to be fun,’’ Magic guard Victor Oladipo said of the sleeved jerseys. ``Winning or losing, we can’t make any excuses – especially with the position that we’re in. We don’t really have high recognition around the league and we have to earn everything that we get. So we have to earn everything.’’
Tonight’s game will be Orlando’s 17 of the young season, easily the most that any team in the NBA has played so far. The Magic have also played more road games than any other squad in the NBA (10), something that could be a contributing factor in the team’s struggles at the Amway Center (2-4).
Orlando has lost home games to Toronto, Washington, the Los Angeles Clippers and Miami – four likely playoff teams. The Warriors will almost assuredly be playing in the postseason what with their growth offensively and defensively this season. The Warriors, winners of six straight games, throttled the Heat on Tuesday night and they lead the league in field goal percentage and field goal percentage allowed.
``That’s an impressive team. You watch them and you see how impressive they are as far as shooting the basketball and then they do it on the other end with some aggressive smalls and a guy like (Andrew) Bogut manning the paint,’’ Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. ``So they are pretty impressive.’’
Orlando is hoping to see the return of Harris, who has missed the past two games because of lingering pain in his strained calf muscle – both losses. Harris injured himself prior to Friday’s game in Charlotte – a night when he played 39 minutes and contributed 17 points and 16 rebounds. He wore his full practice gear along with a sleeve over his injured leg for the morning shoot-around practice and he is hopeful that he can return tonight.
``It’s feeling better, but it’s still going to be a game-time decision,’’ said Harris, who held an event on Tuesday where he served Thanksgiving dinner to approximately 450 underserved families. ``I’ve gotten some good rest on it and it’s feeling better. So we’ll see how it reacts to the workout before the game and we’ll make a decision from there.’’
Fournier, who like Harris is posting career-best numbers across the board, suffered his injury in Monday’s ugly loss in Cleveland. O’Quinn, a rugged shot blocker who could help the Magic in keeping foes out of the paint and away from the rim, has played in three weeks since spraining his ankle in the opener.
Golden State has no such injury concerns other than missing power forward David Lee (strained hamstring). Superstar guard Steph Curry carried the Warriors on Tuesday in Miami by drilling eight 3-pointers – some of them several feet behind the arc and others while stepping backward – and scoring a season-high 40 points.
Watching Curry’s shooting display – and knowing that they would be charged with having to stop him 24 hours later – was downright surreal for some of the Magic’s players.
``I think you’ve got to get into him and try to be a little bit physical with him,’’ Magic rookie guard Elfrid Payton said. ``You have to make sure that he doesn’t get any open shots to get himself into a rhythm. He’s a pretty good finisher so it’s going to be tough. … I watched a little bit of (the Golden State-Miami game on Tuesday) – I was able to catch the end of it. It’s a challenge facing a guy (like Curry) and I love challenges. Hopefully I can do better than that (holding Curry to less than 40 points), hopefully.’’