Orlando Magic: 10 Things You Should Know This Week

January 5, 2015

The Magic will embark on a four-game road trip, beginning with three consecutive contests against Western Conference opponents. The trip begins with a tilt against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, January 7 (9 p.m. ET). The team will then play a back-to-back set featuring matchups with the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, January 9 (10:30 p.m. ET) and the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, January 10 (10 p.m. ET).
All regular season Orlando Magic games will be locally televised exclusively by FOX Sports Florida.

The NBA has announced that the start time for the Orlando Magic’s game at Dallas on Wednesday, March 18 has been changed to 8 p.m. ET (was 8:30 p.m. ET) and will now be televised nationally by ESPN. The game will also still be televised locally on FOX Sports Florida.

With his impressive performance versus the Brooklyn Nets on January 2, Magic rookie point guard Elfrid Payton became the 10^th youngest player in NBA history to register at least 16 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in a single game. Payton also recorded his 200^th assist of the season against the Charlotte Hornets on January 3, which represents the fifth most assists by a Magic player in their rookie season.

The Orlando Magic recorded a season-high 13 steals in a game against the Brooklyn Nets on January 2. The Magic have notched at least five steals in 31 games this season, which is tied for the fourth most in the NBA.

Magic forward Channing Frye connected on three 3-pointers in 27 minutes of play in Orlando’s win over Miami on December 29. Frye is shooting 41.5 percent (71-of-171) from long range this season, putting him on pace to achieve the second highest 3-point shooting percentage for a single season in his career.

Magic center Nikola Vu?evi? is one of only eight players in the NBA to average at least 11 rebounds per game this season.

Magic guard Evan Fournier will return to Denver on Wednesday to play against his former team for the first time since being traded to the Magic on June 26, 2014. During his first two NBA seasons with the Nuggets, Fournier scored 15+ points 16 times in 114 games. This season, he has scored 15+ points 16 times in 36 games played.

The Orlando Magic are averaging 32.0 defensive rebounds per game this season. The Magic currently rank sixth in the league in defensive rebounding percentage (.764, as of Jan. 5).

The Orlando Magic have played 10 games versus Western Conference opponents so far during the 2014-15 season, posting a 4-6 record in those games. During the month of January, the team will play eight games against teams from the Western Conference.

The Magic are 9-10 in back-to-back situations in 2014-15 (4-6 in the first game and 5-4 in the second game). Last season, Orlando was 6-30 in back-to-backs (1-17 in the first game, 5-13 in the second game).