Augustin quietly becomes a key leader
sometimes has games for the Orlando Magic during which nobody even notices his contribution.
He’s actually one of the biggest contributors on the floor, but sometimes he just does it quietly.
A person can look at the box score afterward, and the 6-foot, 183-pound veteran point guard of 11 years will have nine assists, several rebounds, a steal or two and one will realize that he did, indeed, do his part, but it was just quiet for him out there among the NBA’s big trees.
He wasn’t quiet Saturday night against the Los Angeles Lakers. Augustin had 22 points and seven assists while helping lead the Magic past the Lakers for their second consecutive victory.
“He makes simple plays for the most part, and when he’s open, he shoots it,” Magic head coach
said. “When he gets in the paint … sometimes guys his size have trouble in crowded areas and he does what
used to do. He dribbles along the baseline so that he has vision, so he can make passes out to open people instead of trying to make all these plays in traffic.”
Augustin has had a steady stretch of performances lately that highlight his importance to this team. He’s one of the better ball handlers in the league, and his numbers are proof. He has just 17 turnovers during 16 games, averaging just over one turnover every 25 minutes based on his 438 minutes of game time.
“He’s terrific,” Clifford said. “I think if you ask people who are the best ball handlers, they’re gonna say and but D.J. is terrific ball handler.”
Augustin is averaging 11 points, five assists and two rebounds per game.
Last week in New York, Knicks rookie
blocked nine Magic shots during Orlando’s blowout win over the Knicks.
Clifford said the subject was addressed during recent practices.
“It’s been mentioned to our group that maybe after a guy gets four or five, we might wanna change our decision-making when we go into those areas,” he said.
“It’s been brought up, yeah. It was on the board.”
Robinson somewhat surprised the Magic players with his blocking skills.
“Obviously he has a talent for that. You have to have an awareness of that when you are playing against him,” Clifford said. “He got them a lot of different ways. He got them in the paint from people trying to score over him as an individual defender and I think he had five as a help defender.”