Skiles wants more from Vucevic
The Orlando Magic’s inconsistency has prompted Scott Skiles to search during games for energetic lineups, and no one’s playing time has suffered a bigger hit as a result than starting center Nik Vucevic.
Vucevic sat the entire fourth quarter of the Magic’s 97-91 loss Saturday to the Sacramento Kings, but that didn’t occur because Skiles was upset with Vucevic. Instead, Skiles saw that the quintet the Magic had on the floor to begin the fourth quarter was playing well, and Skiles didn’t want to deviate from what was working.
“We finally found a lineup and started to get back in the game,” Skiles said afterward. “So I wasn’t going to bust that up at that point.”
It was, however, the second consecutive game Vucevic received less playing time than usual. The 7-footer didn’t play in the entire second half or overtime of the Magic’s 104-101 victory Wednesday over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Against the Timberwolves, Skiles sat Vucevic and shooting guard Victor Oladipo to begin the third quarter, and Skiles later explained that he didn’t intend to keep Vucevic out for the entire remainder of the game. Skiles saw that big men Jason Smith, Dewayne Dedmon and Andrew Nicholson were effective, and Skiles didn’t want to halt his team’s momentum.
Skiles had a long talk with Vucevic on Friday, perhaps for Skiles to ensure Vucevic understood his rationale.
“Like we are with all of our guys,” Skiles said, “as good as he is, and he’s really, really talented, we want more. We want more consistency. We want more effort.”
Vucevic played a total of 25 minutes against the Kings, and he scored 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting and collected a team-high 11 rebounds. Kings center DeMarcus Cousins was the most dominant player on the court, finishing with 29 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.
Oladipo also didn’t play in the fourth quarter against Sacramento.
Tough night
Evan Fournier finished with 17 points versus the Kings, but they were hard-fought points.
Fournier, the Magic’s leading scorer and most consistent player this season, missed his first seven shot attempts.
He made his first basket with 8:24 left in the second quarter after he caught an errant Sacramento pass, sprinted coast-to-coast and completed the play with a dunk.
Fournier was so happy to score that, after his dunk, he caught the ball and kissed it.
“My first six or seven shots, I was wide open,” Fournier said. “It was just great movement, great basketball, and I just couldn’t make [the shots]. I was obviously very frustrated by that.”
Fournier finished the game 7 for 20 from the field, including a 3-for-11 night from 3-point range.
The Magic missed plenty of open shots throughout the first half and also misfired as the Kings went on a 22-2 run during the final five minutes of the third quarter.
“We came apart right when the ball was thrown up,” Skiles said. “We just got open 3s [and] missed ’em. We had a bunch of fast-break opportunities [and] couldn’t convert.”
Fournier was asked afterward how the Magic will bounce back when they face LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers tonight.
“We’re going to play hard as hell and see what happens,” Fournier answered.