ORLANDO – The ease with which Elfrid Payton controlled the critical moments of the Orlando Magic’s win in San Antonio on Tuesday – stealing the ball on one end and dunking on the other; flipping a perfect alley-oop to Jonathon Simmons; and, finally, firing an off-handed, no-look pass by a defender to Bismack Biyombo for the sealing dunk – spoke volumes about the comfort that the point guard now feels in his game.
Undoubtedly, it’s taken a lot of time for Payton to get here – three long, losing seasons while working alongside four head coaches and too many teammates to count – but this much is a certainty now: The Magic are demonstrably better with Payton on the floor than without him.