Nuggets at Magic
Rookie point guard Elfrid Payton looks for a third straight triple-double when his Orlando Magic host the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. Payton, the 10th pick in the 2014 draft, recorded 22 points to go along with 10 rebounds and 10 assists as the Magic rallied to defeat Portland 111-104 on Friday and became the first Orlando player to post back-to-back triple-doubles. Payton will be tested against one of the NBA’s top point guards in Ty Lawson of the Nuggets, who have dropped three straight.
Payton averages 8.7 points and 6.2 assists overall but has scored in double figures in nine consecutive contests. “I do see a different spirit, a different confidence – an aggressiveness that I think is new in the last three, four or five games,” Magic coach James Borrego told reporters of Payton. “There’s something different in his eye right now.” Lawson averages a team-high 15.7 points and 9.8 assists – third in the league.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, Altitude (Denver), FSN Florida (Orlando)
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (26-44): Denver had won six of eight games before dropping its last three on the road, including the 108-91 defeat at Miami on Friday, and has allowed 100 or more seven times in the last nine outings. Wilson Chandler is second on the team in scoring overall (13.8) and has averaged 14.6 in March while shooting 54.5 percent from the field. Kenneth Faried has raised his level of play over the last six games while averaging 19.3 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (22-49): Victor Oladipo has been a force playing alongside Payton in the backcourt, averaging 22.4 points and five assists in March after scoring 22 against Portland. Oladipo is second on the team in scoring overall behind center Nikola Vucevic (19.4 points, 11.1 rebounds), who ranks third in the league in double-doubles with 39. Third-leading scorer Tobias Harris (16.9) has missed two straight games with an ankle injury and is questionable along with center Dewayne Dedmon (ankle).
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Nuggets have beaten the Magic six of the last seven meetings, including a 93-90 triumph in Denver on Jan. 7.
2. Payton is the first rookie to record two straight triple-doubles since Antoine Walker in 1997 with Boston.
3. Denver SG Will Barton is averaging only five points and has made 4-of-16 from the field in the last three games since scoring a career-high 25 against New Orleans.