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No Shortage of Confidence in Harris' Game

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John DentonDec. 14, 2014

TORONTO – Confidence is having the coach draw the play up for you, your teammates do everything in their power to get you the ball while also having them believe you will be successful.

Confidence is calling your shot – metaphorically speaking, at least – and then coming through in the clutch with the result hanging in the balance to ensure that success is the byproduct.

Confidence is knowing that even though the other team is game-planning to stop you, two defenders are running at you and 15,939 fans are watching your every movement that you can still make the shot because you have practiced it hundreds, if not thousands of times.

Confidence is the willingness to live with the results of taking the final shot of the game, be it the questions and barbs that invariably come if the ball rims out or the elation that is there if you drain a game-winner.

Orlando Magic forward Tobias Harris doesn’t just possess confidence; he practically oozes it out of his every pore. The bigger the moment, the better he is for a Magic team that happily rides the wave of belief that he provides on a nightly basis.

There are diva athletes all throughout sports who beat their chests in a look-at-me manner and celebrate like giddy school girls when things are going great. And then there’s Harris, whose swagger is a quiet one regardless whether his shot is falling on that particular night or not. The Magic know they can count on Harris in the clutch – he really is the first, second and third option on those nights – because the 6-foot-9, 235-pound forward has the supreme belief in himself that he will make the right play.

Usually, that means sinking a game-winning, high-degree-of-difficulty shot in the final seconds – as Harris did once again on Saturday to lift the Magic (10-16) to a 100-99 defeat of the rival Atlanta Hawks. It was the third game-winning shot in the past three seasons for Harris – two more than any Magic player over the last 10 years.

After hitting a leaning, 15-footer over DeMarre Carroll and Paul Millsap and getting mobbed by his teammates, Harris talked about his confidence – something that stems from the trust of his coaches and teammates, from his hours of preparation behind the scenes and from the belief in his own abilities.

``The biggest thing to me is that every one of my teammates knew that was a shot that I’m capable of making,’’ Harris said. ``Coach (Jacque Vaughn) drew up the play and guys had great confidence in me and trusted me to make it. It was just a great win for us with the way that we battled back. We just kept fighting and we willed ourselves to get this win.’’

Orlando was able to pull out one of its most thrilling victories of the season while also avenging a loss to the Hawks in Atlanta a night earlier. Harris didn’t play especially well in that Friday defeat, holding himself personally accountable afterward and repeatedly telling teammates that they would win on Saturday. And Harris was certainly a man of his word after pumping in 20 points, grabbing six rebounds and either equaling or setting new season highs with five assists and three blocked shots on Saturday.

Center Nikola Vucevic, who had a layup and a key blocked shot down the stretch, said that the contagious confidence provided by Harris is a big reason why Orlando has made major strides this season. He marveled at how the 22-year-old Harris can almost will his teammates with a belief that is unbreakable regardless of the circumstances.

``He has a lot of confidence and he plays with a lot of confidence,’’ said Vucevic, who set the screen that freed Harris up for the in-bounds pass to come in from Evan Fournier. ``That comes him working so far. He put a lot of time in this summer to improve his game. Every day you see him working out and trying to get better and it shows on the court. He’s a confident person in general, but he puts in the work as well.’’

Added teammate Victor Oladipo, referring to Harris’ history of game-winners: ``T.B. (Tobias) is proven.’’

Harris, who was unable to reach an agreement on a contract extension prior to the season and will be a restricted free agent on July 1, put in the kind of work over the summer to dramatically grow his game. Challenged by Magic GM Rob Hennigan and Vaughn to be a more complete player, Harris is posting career numbers in scoring (18.5 ppg.), rebounding (7.8 rpg.), assists (1.9 apg.), blocks (0.6 bpg.), steals (1.0 spg.), field goal percentage (47.1 percent), 3-point shooting (39.1 percent) and minutes played (35.5 mpg.). He’s also been a big factor in Orlando notching its 10th victory two weeks earlier than it did last season by averaging more points (20.4 to 17.1), rebounds (8.5 to 7.4) and assists (2.2 to 1.7) in wins than losses.

``He has a mentality that allows him to continue to press on as a scorer,’’ Vaughn said. ``I think defensively he was good for us also (on Saturday). Multiple pick-and-rolls he had to handle and I thought he was really good on that (defensive) end of the floor. And on offense, he’s always going to persevere. No worries about that.’’

There were no worries earlier in early November when the Magic were locked into a tie game with the Philadelphia 76ers in the final seconds. That night, Vaughn drew up a play where Fournier inbounded the ball to rookie Elfrid Payton, whose job it was to look for Harris after he weaved through screens set by Vucevic and Channing Frye. That shot – a 22-foot fall-away jumper from the right wing – hit nothing but net and gave Orlando its first win of the season.

Neither that shot, nor Saturday’s game-winner against Atlanta, was as impressive as the feat that Harris pulled off in the clutch last February to help the Magic stun the Oklahoma City Thunder. With the Magic down one in the final seconds, Harris blocked out Serge Ibaka under the rim, raced the length of the floor like a blur and dunked the ball as time expired for a one-point victory.

In situations where others might shy away because of the pressure, Harris welcomes the challenge. His ``All Business’’ moniker is an affectionate one because he doesn’t allow anything to cloud his focus or detract from his confidence. He knows he has the skill set and the proper preparation to do something special for the Magic when it matters most.

``I think it just comes from the endless hours in the gym when no one is watching, getting those repetitions and getting those shots up,’’ Harris said. ``(Saturday’s winner) is a pretty basic shot for me – a two-dribble pull-up jump shot – that I work on. At that point it’s pretty much just determining where the defense is. … I didn’t really see it go in, but I saw my teammates jumping up and pretty excited. When we won the game, I was just really happy.’’

Overcome with the emotion on the night and the delighted feeling of seeing his teammates celebrate a victory, Harris had tears well up in his eyes. He took some good-natured ribbing from his teammates for the misty eyes, but the underlying message to Harris’ emotional reaction was that he cares deeply about winning. And fortunately for the Magic, Harris has the confidence to come through in the clutch when it matters the most.

``It was emotional with how we played so well together. It was nice to see everybody jumping up and down and seeing the excitement on the guys’ faces,’’ Harris said. ``Something like this means a lot as a player because we put a lot into this and do a lot for the team. I want to win more than anybody. To see guys on our team with that same attitude, it’s (nice).’’