AUBURN HILLS – Big Boban’s big night almost didn’t happen.
With Charlotte minus starting center Cody Zeller, elevating enormous Roy Hibbert to the starting lineup and bumping Spencer Hawes into the rotation as backup center, Stan Van Gundy’s blueprint didn’t necessarily include the 7-foot-4 Boban Marjanovic.
But when both Jon Leuer and Andre Drummond picked up two fouls before the midway point of the first quarter, that blueprint went out the window – and Boban went in the game.
“We had planned to get Jon out early and back in against Hawes,” Van Gundy said after Friday’s practice.