Evan Fournier breaks his cold streak by going inside

Evan Fournier has had a rough start to his season shooting the ball. So he did what all good guards do, get to the basket and contribute somehow.

Evan Fournier was not too thrilled with himself when he met Emily Austen for the halftime interview. If his stat line were not on a graphic next to him, it would be easy to think Fournier was not playing well at all.

“I’m not shooting the ball well,” Fournier said even though he had made 7 of 10 shots in the first half. And Fournier was not completely wrong. He was struggling to hit from the perimeter.

But, no Fournier was not a liability. Not at all.

Fournier figured out pretty early on Tuesday against New Orleans his shot was not going to fall. He missed all three of his 3-pointers in the first half. And so he ducked his head and attacked the basket.

That is how he made those seven field goals and scored 15 points in the first half. Most of his work in the first half was done attacking the basket and making those in between shots, floaters and layups.

That is seven shots within the paint, six at the rim. That is the ideal for a player struggling to shoot.

Coaches tell their guards when they cannot hit their outside shots, drive to the basket and get to the line to build confidence. So far this season, Evan Fournier has been in desperate need of confidence, shooting just 39.5 percent from the floor and 26.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Safe to say after Tuesday Fournier found it.

Fournier matched his first half with another 15-point second half. And he did it from the outside, seemingly finding the hot streak and confidence that coaches say guards gain by taking things to the basket.

Fournier ended up with a career-high 30 points on 12-for-20 shooting and 4-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc. He hit two critical 3-pointers in the final two minutes that put the game away and silenced any chance of another collapse or a New Orleans Pelicans win.

It really was the fruition of that adage about taking the ball inside. And it was clear this was what Fournier was trying to do.

Fournier has undoubtedly struggled from the floor this year. He has noted it and his coach has noted it (jokingly?) numerous times this early season.

Through three games, 17 of his 43 shots came from within 10 feet. That was the largest proportion of his shots, but it was also clearly not effective. What was surprising is he was really effective when he could get to the rim — 13 of 17 makes — but he could not hit 3-pointers at all, as noted above.

Fournier has spent his season to this point trying to get to the basket. Rarely had he found success like this though.

It was a lesson for the larger Orlando Magic team. In this game, the Magic built their lead again and had to hold on and hold off the Pelicans to get the win. The Pelicans never fully came back.

And that was because Orlando followed Fournier’s lead and started playing more aggressively and attacking the basket, moving the ball as the defense collapsed. Fournier himself added four assists.

The Magic took 43 shots at the rim and got into the paint too for 56 points in the paint — 18 more than the Pelicans scored. When the offense finally got itself going in the second half, it was because the team was working inside out.

This is ultimately how the Magic want to play in the long run. Quick ball reversals and decisive cutting and driving into the paint, taking advantage of the shifting defense to find holes to the lane.And when the ball and the defense gets sucked in, the ball finds its way back out for 3-pointers.

The age-old adage coaches scream at their players persists and succeeds. Fournier proved that in his career night and the Magic’s first win of the season.