By John DentonDec. 12, 2014
ATLANTA – For just the 13th time in their 26-year history, the Orlando Magic will play games against the same foe – the Atlanta Hawks in this instance – on back-to-back nights, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Orlando played in Atlanta on Friday night and are scheduled to face the Hawks at the Amway Center in Orlando on Saturday night.
The scheduling quirk is a rarity in the NBA’s marathon 82-game schedule. The last time that the Magic played the same team on consecutive nights was Feb. 14 and 15 of 2006 – a back-to-back where Orlando lost both games to the Miami Heat.
While playing the same team on consecutive nights aids in the scouting and teaching process, Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn said on Friday that he planned to treat the two games as entirely different entities. He said his coaching staff would compose one game plan for Friday’s game, make adjustments as necessary and then put together another plan of attack for Saturday’s home game.
``You take the games separately. We’ll game plan for (Friday’s) game and then you will make minor adjustments going into the next game based on what worked and what didn’t work,’’ Vaughn said. ``You take them separately.’’
Magic forward Tobias Harris said that playing a Hawks team that is just a half-game back from being the leaders in the Eastern Conference ramps up the importance of the showdown. Then, when considering that the two teams play on back-to-back nights, it only doubles the magnitude of the two games.
``Playing these guys back-to-back, playing them away and then going back home, we’re most definitely going to have to bring it both nights against the Hawks,’’ said Harris, Orlando’s leading scorer at 18.7 points per game. ``Going out here (on Friday), we want to do a lot of the same things versus Washington because we did a lot of good things before the fourth quarter.’’
VOOCH’S ABSENCE: Magic center Nikola Vucevic missed his sixth consecutive game on Friday night because of a sprained back, but he reports that he is making progress with the injury and could play on Saturday in Orlando.
Vucevic, Orlando’s leading rebounder (11.7 rpg.) and its second-leading scorer (18.6 ppg.), initially injured his back a month ago in a loss in Washington. He played through the pain for 2 ½ weeks before taking hits in games against Indiana and Phoenix that aggravated the pain. The injury was initially diagnosed as back spasms, but later changed to a sprain following further testing.
Vucevic hasn’t played in 12 days, but he reported progress following Thursday’s practice session and Friday morning’s involvement in Orlando’s shoot-around session. He feels that he truly is day-to-day, and stressed that he could return to the Magic’s starting lineup very soon.
``I did some good work out there (on Thursday) – the most that I’ve done from the other days and my back reacted well,’’ Vucevic said. ``The most important thing is to see how my back reacts after doing some work. It responded well and I’m very happy about that.’’
Orlando entered Friday’s game 2-3 this season when Vucevic is out and two of those losses – against Golden State and Washington – were winnable games if not for fourth-quarter faltering. Prior to this season, Orlando was just 5-25 in the 30 games that Vucevic had missed over the past two seasons because of concussions and leg injuries.
Before he was injured two weeks ago, Vucevic was among the league leaders in minutes played at 673 through 19 games. Also, he’s tied with Orlando’s Harris for 16th in the league in average minutes played per game at 35.4. For Vucevic – a player who despises coming out of games – missing so much time with a nagging back injury has been especially painful.
``It’s very annoying to be out because you always want to be out there with your teammates,’’ Vucevic said. ``To have to sit out and not be a part of games is no fun. But at the same time if you have an injury you have to be smart and make sure it heals. You don’t want to be out there with your teammates and not be able to give it your all. Injuries are part of the job that we do and hopefully this injury is nothing serious. Hopefully in a few days I will be back out there.’’
SHOOTING STREAKS: Magic shooting guard Evan Fournier entered Friday night’s game as the NBA’s active leader in consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer at 29 games. He made a three in his first 23 games this season and the final six games of last season when he played for the Denver Nuggets.
But Fournier knows that he still has a lot of work to do if he’s going to set some franchise and league history. Former Orlando great Dennis Scott holds the team record with 78 straight games with at least one 3-pointer – a streak that ran from April 19, 1995 through April 7, 1996.
On Friday and Saturday nights, Fournier will be guarding Kyle Korver – the NBA’s all-time record-holder for 3-pointers in 127 consecutive games. Kover’s streak started early in the 2012-13 season and ran through the fall of the 2013-14 season – something that is almost unfathomable to Fournier.
``That’s crazy, but that’s what he does,’’ Fournier said of Korver’s shooting. ``He’s one of the best in the league. Doing it for 127 (games) – that’s more than a season. It’s unbelievable.’’
Fournier said that what makes Korver’s shooting success so amazing is that every team is out to stop him yet he still finds a way to shake free for open jumpers. Fournier said his conditioning would be pushed to the test having to chase Korver around screens when playing the Hawks on back-to-back nights.
``I’m mentally prepared to run a lot tonight,’’ joked Fournier, who entered Friday’s game ranked 26th in the NBA in 3-point shooting at 40.8 percent. ``(Korver) is a very good shooter with a lot of experience. And he has one of the fastest releases in the league so it will be a tough matchup. It’s a good challenge.’’