Veteran Magic guard Gary Harris has emerged as a reliable late-game defensive threat for Orlando with several rotational guards ailing, writes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscriber link).
The 30-year-old has played sparingly with Orlando this season, averaging 2.8 PPG and 1.4 RPG in his 41 contests with the club so far, in 15.2 MPG.
After missing five games as a healthy scratch since the end of February, the 6’4″ pro has been a major leader defending along the perimeter. He’s averaging a steal per game across his last five contests.
“His defense is something that you probably wouldn’t know unless you looked into it, but he’s one of our best guard defenders,” guard Anthony Black said. “His activity, he picks up the ball full court, gets clutch rebounds and he’s a knockdown shooter… All those things are huge to us, and then he’s just a really good veteran leader. It’s just good for us on the court.”
There’s more out of the Sunshine State:
Former Magic guard Markelle Fultz, who spent five seasons in Orlando, played an emotional first game back against his old team as a member of the Kings in a blowout loss Saturday, Beede writes in another piece (subscriber link). “It’s good to talk a little trash, play, go out there and compete, but at the end of the day, it’s love,” Fultz told reporters. “It’s a lifetime relationship that I have with these guys.” He was sidelined for 39 contests last year with left knee injuries, and opted to rehab the knee before signing with a new team. “That’s something that was big on my mind going into the summer, just getting healthy and taking my time to do it… That’s the choice I decided to [make] in the beginning of the year and that’s why I took that time off.” Across his 17 games with Sacramento, Fultz is averaging averaged 3.1 PPG and 1.2 APG 8.7.
Heat rookies Kel’el Ware and Pelle Larsson have been shining for Miami of late, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (subscriber link). The frontcourt standouts each enjoyed impressive nights in the Heat’s Saturday victory against Philadelphia. Larsson scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out four dimes, swiped four steals and blocked two shots. Ware logged a 13-point, 14-rebound double-double without missing a shot. Jackson notes that Larsson seems to have replaced second-year forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. as head coach Erik Spoelstra‘s preferred swingman behind Andrew Wiggins. “Pelle is just an ignitable player. He makes things happen – the steals, the deflections, the hard plays. Those are momentum shifting plays that he has a knack for. He spends so much time in the gym that the rest of his game is getting better — the playmaking, shooting, the facilitating.” Jackson opines that Ware needs to get stronger, and looked pretty movable in the post against opposing veteran bigs. Still, Spoelstra seems to like where he is right now.“I love what he’s doing,” Spoelstra said. “Number one, he’s glass eating. He has such a knack for rebounding over a crowd. He does rebound in traffic, too. There’s a lot of contact down there.”
In case you missed it, former six-time All-Star Heat wing Jimmy Butler, now with Golden State, downplayed his first game against his old team since forcing a trade this year.