Elfrid Payton drove the engine for Orlando Magic’s comeback win

The Orlando Magic were poor through much of the game. Not Elfrid Payton. When his teammates were ready to come along, Payton was unleashed and effective.

The Orlando Magic needed a spark. A big spark.

The first half was as frustrating and poor as any stretch of basketball the Magic have played in this inconsistent start to the season — but, hey, 6-6. Two starters would eventually get benched — one, the healthy one, for the entire second half.

Coach Scott Skiles had to send messages intentional and unintentional. Change needed to happen.

Jason Smith, Andrew Nicholson and Channing Frye provided a spark. Even Victor Oladipo recovered from his terrible first half and did some nice things defensively in his second-half stint. Skiles had to pull every lever available to get some energy and give his team a chance to win.

It still needed some push from some of the Magic’s best players to secure the win. As nice as those players are and as much depth as Skiles believes he has, players like Elfrid Payton, Evan Fournier and Tobias Harris had to deliver.

The rhythm, pace and execution for the Magic’s offense still rides on Elfrid Payton. There is no 104-101 comeback victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Amway Center on Wednesday without Payton and the example he began to set and the energy he brought to the game throughout that eventually caught on in the second half.

Ever the teammate, Payton deflected any credit for spurring and leading the team in scoring a career-high 24 points, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out six assists.

“It’s a team thing,” Payton said. “We all picked it up. We were able to get deflections and get out in transition.”

Payton was responsible for many of those deflections and the ability to get out in transition. He set up Dewayne Dedmon for an alley-oop brought the lead to single digits as the Magic prepared to make their 15-0 run to take the lead for the first time since the first quarter.

This was one of many plays Payton made in that third quarter. He had six points and two assists in the quarter. he also had two steals. He pressured Ricky Rubio and took advantage of Minnesota’s mistakes. The Timberwolves in all committed seven turnovers for 12 Magic points in the period.

The table was set for the Magic to have a chance to win this game. Inexplicably so.

The fourth quarter became more of Payton. So did overtime. He was making shots, confidently shooting that jumper. And it was going in. He was getting into the paint too — 8 of his 13 field goal attempts in the second half and overtime were in the restricted area, making six of those eight attempts.

The Magic found a way and Payton played a big part of that.

“He played really well,” Tobias Harris said. “He got into the lane, he made some big plays especially in the fourth quarter and overtime. I was happy to see that.”

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Payton has had his ups and downs this season. He has re-worked his shot and the results have been mixed — 34.5 percent shooting from the floor with a 37.3 percent effective field goal percentage. All that confidence has not necessarily produced results.

So in a game where the Magic could not find much of anything in the way of consistency or effort, Payton became a constant. And when the rest of his team was ready to come along, Payton lifted them up.

On a night when so many players struggled, Scott Skiles said Elfrid Payton was one of the few who looked goo all night. On a night when so many combinations did not work and the coach was looking for anything to work, Payton became a driving force to get over the top.

The win may prove important.

“I think it’s very important for us,” Payton said. “I don’t think we would have won this game last year, honestly. That’s something to build off and continue to work it.”

The Magic’s win over the Timberwolves was a good sign for this team. They won again without their best game. It should not become habit. But on a night when so much went so horribly wrong, the team showed a lot of growth.

And so did Payton in helping get them there.