ORLANDO – The Orlando Magic throttled the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday and pushed the star-studded Los Angeles Clippers to the brink on Wednesday, but head coach Frank Vogel said the split wasn’t even the most impressive thing to emerge from the difficult back-to-back set of games.
Instead, it was the inspiring play from young, foundational pieces Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon that brought the greatest joy to Vogel.
Payton sparked the Atlanta victory with career-bests in scoring (26) and assists (14) while making nine of 12 shots and all three of his 3-point tries. Even more impressive was the fact that Payton did all of that as a reserve, making him just the fourth NBA player in the past 46 years to record at least 26 points and 14 assists from a reserve role.