Augustin may play Saturday
Barring an unforeseen setback, the Orlando Magic should receive a boost soon at point guard.
who strained his left hamstring Nov. 1 and missed the Magic’s last seven games, said he hopes to play either Saturday against the Utah Jazz or Monday against the Indiana Pacers.
“I feel a lot better right now,” Augustin said after he watched the Magic lose to the Portland Trail Blazers 99-94 Wednesday night at Moda Center.
“I’m leaving it up to the training staff on when I could return, but it’s looking like pretty soon. So I hope either Saturday or Monday, at least one of those games, because I’ve been ready to play. I’m just tired of sitting out. It’s hard to sit out. But with a hamstring, you want to be careful with it, because it could recur and I don’t want to go backwards.”
Augustin, 30, had a disappointing first season with the Magic in 2016-17 but showed signs of improvement this season before his injury. He stepped into
starting role after Payton injured his left hamstring during the second game of the season. With Payton out, the Magic posted a 5-1 record in games that Augustin started.
Augustin averaged 8.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 5.1 assists and sank 38.9 percent of his 3-point tries during Orlando’s first eight games. His prowess as an outside shooter stretched opposing defenses and created space and passing lanes for his teammates.
“A lot of the games we’ve been losing have been very winnable games,” Augustin said. “Even the Golden State game, we felt like we should have won that game if we had done things a little differently. But it’s still early. We still have a chance to keep getting better, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to learn from our mistakes and just keep moving forward.”
On Wednesday, Augustin took another step in his recovery: He ran full court for the first time since his injury.
“Just to be out there doing that felt really good,” Augustin said. “No soreness or anything.”
The Magic led the Trail Blazers by 14 points early in the second quarter, but the game’s tenor soon turned. The Blazers closed the period on a 17-0 run.
Portland players raised their physicality during that stretch, as demonstrated by a sequence with 24.1 seconds remaining in the quarter. lost the bounds, and
ball out of Portland’s gave Fournier shove.
Fournier responded by pushing McCollum.
The two players jawed at each other and received offsetting technical fouls.
After the game, Fournier credited McCollum for McCollum’s spirit.
“It’s nothing,” Fournier said. “It was just not backing down.”
“It’s tough to win on the road, man,” Fournier added. “It’s tough. Winning, period, in the NBA is hard
a
bit
of
a and winning on the road is harder. We started the game great, with the right attitude. We just have to be aware that teams are going to bounce back. Teams are going to bounce back because they’re playing at home. They don’t want to get pushed [around] by another team coming in.”
After the game, McCollum was asked whether his technical foul fired up his teammates.
“I hope so!” McCollum said. “For $2,500, I hope they understand the severity of each game and where we’re at in the season and how you only get so many home games. You’ve got to take advantage of them.”