ORLANDO – Going into the season, the Orlando Magic were well aware that any hopes they had of reaching the postseason rode on their ability to keep veteran point guard D.J. Augustin healthy and they acted accordingly by limiting his minutes.
Now that those playoffs are within reach and the season is in its stretch run, Augustin says he’s totally fine with the Magic taking off the limits on his minutes in an effort to get Orlando into the postseason.
Augustin, 31, went into Sunday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks averaging 27.7 minutes in 69 games, missing just one in late December because of an ankle sprain. He has been one of the Magic’s steadiest players all season while averaging 11.6 points, a team-best 5.0 assists and 2.3 rebounds while shooting 47.3 percent of his field goals and 43.2 percent of his 3-point shots.
The Magic purposefully limited Augustin to 26.1 minutes a game in October and 27.7 minutes in November. After seeing his playing time spike to 29.8 minutes in December – largely because of the struggles in finding a reliable backup – the team got his minutes back down in January (27.9), February (26.1) and March (27.7). Orlando signed point guard Michael Carter-Williams on Friday to a 10-day contract to compete with Jerian Grant for minutes behind Augustin, who is openly pining for more playing time now to try and assist the Magic’s playoff push.
``I mean, I can play as much as the team or the coach needs me to play. I’ve always been like that and I never take nothing for granted,’’ said Augustin, who has played for eight teams in his 11-year NBA career. ``There have been times when I don’t play at all. So, if I play 30-something minutes a game I’m grateful and thankful and I’m trying to take advantage of every opportunity because you can’t take nothing for granted.’’
Augustin said he is thankful that the Magic put his health at a priority because he usually takes something of a beating during games because of his sleight build, his propensity for getting hit with screens and getting knocked down at the rim.
``Especially with the way I play – I fall a lot,’’ Augustin said, referring to the difference between 27 minutes a game and 30 minutes a night. ``A lot of times, when I wake up in the morning, a lot of things hurt that didn’t hurt the night before. But it’s part of the game and nobody is playing at 100 percent right now. Everybody is playing with some type of injury and something bothering them, and it just comes down to mental toughness at this point in the season.’’
MCW’S MINUTES: With Carter-Williams joining the Magic on a 10-day contract, head coach Steve Clifford said he didn’t want to waste any time in testing out the veteran with his new team.
Clifford coached Carter-Williams last season in Charlotte, and he said the guard has the kind of defensive abilities that should allow him to have a huge impact right away. In fact, Clifford lauded the 6-foot-6 Carter-Williams with some lofty accolades.
``We were playing at a high level (earlier in the season) and it started with our defense,’’ Clifford said. ``I don’t know if people realize this, but look, defensively, on the ball and with pick-and-roll defense, on a scale of 1 to 10, he’s an 8 ½ to nine. He’s one of the best perimeter defenders I’ve ever coached.’’
Clifford has said all season that the Magic need to be an elite, top-10 defense if they are going to make the playoffs. They came into Sunday at No. 9 in the NBA in defensive rating (107.5 points per 100 possessions), and Clifford would like to see that number climb into the NBA’s top five. Carter-Williams could be the guard who puts the Magic over the hump defensively, Clifford said.
``He’s going to have to get his legs under him because he hasn’t played here, but he’s in decent shape,’’ Clifford said. ``But he’s a difference-maker at the defensive end of the floor and he’s a point guard who’s going to get us playing up and down the floor faster. He’s not ready for major minutes. But if we’re going to do what we’re capable of doing here, it’s going to be with 48 minutes of defense, and I think he can contribute to that.’’
ANALYTICAL AUGUSTIN: Analytics have pushed their way into the NBA more and more in recent years as teams work to find players, shot attempts and defensive sets that are most efficient.
In something of a new statistic used to measure offensive efficiency – points per shot attempt – Orlando’s Augustin has a lofty ranking and he’s joined by some impressive company.
Among all NBA guards, Augustin ranks second in the league in points per shot attempt at 1.43. To put that number into perspective, former MVPs James Harden (1.47) and Stephen Curry (1.41) sit on either side of Augustin at first and third, respectively.
``I’ve always played like that – no matter if I was coming off the bench, playing like 10 minutes or starting – I never took bad shots,’’ said Augustin, whose 47.3 percent shooting from the floor is the best of his career, while his 43.2 percent accuracy from beyond the 3-point line is his second-best mark. ``I feel like when you take bad shots, it throws you out of your rhythm. I just try to take good shots and shots that are open. You do that, I feel like you’ll make most of those shots.’’
Augustin prides himself on not making mistakes and taking good shots in games. Also, Augustin ranks 14thin the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.29:1.
UP NEXT: By virtue of having played so many games early in the season, the Magic will enjoy another break following Sunday’s game against Atlanta and won’t play again until Wednesday when they host the New Orleans Pelicans.
Orlando came into Sunday having already played 70 games, while others around it in the standings such as Miami (68), Detroit (68) and Charlotte (68) had played two fewer games.
Starting on Wednesday, the Magic will play either every other day or on a back-to-back over the next 18 nights. The Magic’s next two-day break won come until April 8 and 9 prior to the April 10 finale in Charlotte.
The Magic smashed the Pelicans 118-88 in New Orleans on Feb. 12 for the fourth of what ultimately became a five-game winning streak. That night, four Magic players – Nikola Vucevic (25), Evan Fournier (22), Aaron Gordon (20) and Jonathan Isaac (20) – all scored at least 20 points.
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