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Payton Trying to Fight Through "Rookie Wall"

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John Denton

March 4, 2015

ORLANDO – Real or imagined, the ``rookie wall’’ is usually something every first-year NBA player has to scale at some point during the marathon regular season.

The games, not to mention the standout players at every position, keep coming almost nightly no matter if you are banged up physically, healthy, in a hot stretch or slumping badly.

For Orlando Magic point guard Elfrid Payton, the 21-year-old dismisses the notion that fatigue is bothering him 61 games into the longest season he’s ever had in basketball. The challenge now is to fight through a particularly rough stretch and deliver a bounce-back performance tonight when the Magic (19-42) host the Phoenix Suns (31-30).

At various times tonight Payton will be matched up against dynamic Suns point guards Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight. In the past six weeks alone, Payton has faced Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker, Derrick Rose (since injured), John Wall, Tyreke Evans, Goran Dragic, Jeff Teague and Charlotte’s Mo Williams, who is arguably the hottest point guard in the league of late. The Magic rookie has quickly found out this season that there are no breaks in the NBA, especially at the deep and talented point guard position.

``I think it’s the best position in the league,’’ Payton said of the quality and depth at the point guard position. ``I think it’s fun to come out and compete against those guys every night and show that you belong in this league.’’

Orlando will be looking to end a frustrating three-game losing streak that followed an encouraging three-game winning streak. The downturn started a week ago when Orlando squandered an eight-point lead in the final 37 seconds of the game and losses to Atlanta and Charlotte followed.

Orlando could be extremely short-handed tonight against the Suns because of various injuries throughout the roster. Tobias Harris (bruised knee), Evan Fournier (sore hip), Aaron Gordon (ankle sprain) and Luke Ridnour (hamstring strain) were all limited in practice on Tuesday and could be held out of action tonight. Harris, Orlando’s second-leading scorer this season at 16.9 points per game, collided with teammate Victor Oladipo early in Sunday’s second half and is dealing with a third injury in the past six weeks.

Those injuries will likely mean more playing time for veterans Willie Green, Ben Gordon and third-year forward Maurice Harkless. Dewayne Dedmon, who has also given Orlando a strong defensive presence with his shot-blocking and rebounding prowess, could see additional minutes at power forward if Channing Frye continues to struggle in getting stops.

Payton, whom the Magic acquired on draft night in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers last June, has had a mostly solid first season. He is far-and-away the rookie leader in assists (5.7) and he’s second among all first-year players in steals a game (1.5).

Payton has struggled on the defensive end and with his shooting of late when teams have backed off of him and dared him to shoot. Teague had 17 points and seven assists against Payton and the Magic on Friday – with most of it coming in a game-turning third quarter. Meanwhile, Williams was in attack mode all night for Charlotte on Sunday and handed the Magic 23 points and 11 assists.

Last week against Miami, Payton made big contributions with his passing (nine assists) and rebounding (five boards), but he missed seven of eight shots. He missed six of eight tries on Friday in Atlanta and was off target on all four of his shot attempts in Sunday’s loss before interim coach James Borrego turned to Green over the last 20 minutes.
Borrego said that it very well could be confidence and rhythm that is troubling Payton – the only Magic player to appear in all 61 games – more so than fatigue.

``I don’t know what (the rookie wall) means because the league is different for every rookie and everyone experiences it differently,’’ said Borrego, who is 4-5 since taking over as head coach. ``I don’t think every rookie hits a wall, but every player during the year hits a (rough) stretch. But we believe in him, he’s our point guard, we trust in him and he’s a proud kid and he’ll respond.’’

While joking at times throughout the season that he’s already played the equivalent of two college seasons, Payton said his body doesn’t feel any worse for the wear. Other than a scare where he fell and twisted his knee about a month ago, Payton has remained mostly injury free. Now, he said he must just regain his confidence through work in practice in order to get his game back on track.

``I’m good. I just work – that’s all I know. I just get in the gym (after difficult games),’’ Payton said. ``This is what I signed up for. I love basketball. The games are the fun part. I don’t think it’s a shock. I knew that (the season) was 82 games.’’

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