Evan Fournier shows composure, consistency as he finally bounces back

Evan Fournier came down from his hot start and was struggling to find his shot again. Lately, Fournier is scoring again, including Wednesday’s game winner.

Evan Fournier has seen plenty of shots fall out in the past few weeks. Plenty of things have gone wrong for him since that hot start since the much talked about lineup change and the hot start to the season dissipated.

One thing has not changed though — Fournier’s penchant for heroics and his confidence in himself. Those never wavered even through some rough games and poor shooting nights. And it came through big in Wednesday’s game.

Though Fournier might deflect it, his quick thinking to attack even with Dwight Howard blowing up the Magic’s set play saved the game and prevented a major fourth-quarter collapse.

Howard had pushed Vucevic to the top of the key forcing Fournier to come out higher to receive the ball. The pick and roll option was gone and Fournier quickly attacked to his left hitting a four-foot shot over Patrick Beverley and Trevor Ariza to give the Magic a one-point lead and the eventual game winner.

This is the kind of play the Magic always expect from Fournier — cool, calm and collected in the clutch.

“When you are on the court, the defense dictates if you are going to get the ball or not,” Evan Fournier said. “When you are on the court, you try to be aggressive and make the right play. If you are open, you are going to shoot it, otherwise you make the right play.”

Fournier has done that plenty of times. And late in games this season, the right play is often to shoot it.

In the final three minutes of a game played within a five-point lead or deficit, Fournier is shooting 61.9 percent including 6 of 8 from beyond the arc 42 minutes over 17 games. He has just three turnovers in that time.

Fournier is one of the Magic’s best late-game players. He makes good decisions and makes shots as one of the few Magic players rightly considered a shooter.

And again, Fournier deflects the glory. He made a big shot Wednesday night against the Rockets, but it was not about that. It was about the poise he had in that late game situation. The confidence to make the right play at the right time, whether for himself or others.

“We know he’s going to make good plays,” Tobias Harris said. “We know he can score, he’s a threat, he can shoot it from 3, he can drive. He’s a guy we look to get to the ball to at the end in the fourth quarter because we know he can create off the dribble. He’s been great for us in the fourth quarter.”

Fournier has delivered in these moments plenty of times before this season. And his role largely has been that of a scorer. He is not a big assist guy — just 2.3 assists per game — so he is likely to be shooting the ball or driving when he gets the ball.

Recently that has been part of the problem with Fournier.

He scored 15 points or more 11 times in the first 13 games of the season, but has scored 15 points or more just five times since. His scoring before the lineup change — 18.8 points per game and a 54.5 percent effective field goal percentage — has greatly decreased. Since Nov. 23, Fournier is averaging 10.3 points per game and a 48.8 percent effective field goal percentage.

It seemed Fournier had done more than fallen back to earth and regressed to the mean. He had hit a relative shooting slump. The team was still winning though and so there was little need for change.

“With the lineup change, he was put in different position and it probably took him some time to adjust. He was really huge for us early in the year,” Nikola Vucevic said. “He had a few games where he wasn’t necessarily playing bad, but he wasn’t the Evan we saw in the first 10-15 games of the year. We knew that he was going to come back at that level.”

Fournier though has bounced back some in the last week or so.

Fournier has scored at least 15 points in four of the last five games. He is averaging 13.4 points per game and shooting 56.4 percent effective field goal percentage. It is not quite the breakout-caliber play from the beginning of the season, but it is significantly better.

He scored 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting, making two of his five 3-pointers in the game. He added four assists and five rebounds as he continued to contribute at a much higher rate.

“He’s back on track,” Harris said. “For our team, we don’t really worry when someone has an off shooting night. We come in here every day and if you bring energy defensively, good things will happen out there over the course of the game. The coach holds us to that standard and we hold each other to that standard.”

Here is where Fournier has kept his consistency. Fournier remains a strong defensive player and a good cog within the offense. He is unselfish and attacks when the opportunity arises rather than forcing much offense. Otherwise he moves things along.

Fournier said he does not worry about where his shots come from or think about forcing his way into the conversation. He simply desires to make the right play.

Seeing his scoring increase though is a very welcome sign. And certainly outside of the last two minutes. Although those final two minutes are very nice.

Fournier appears to be swinging upward with his play. And that is a good thing for the Magic’s offense.

Next: Orlando Magic resilient to defeat Houston Rockets

“I’m playing much better basketball right now,” Fournier said. “It feels good, I can’t lie. It’s a very long season. Anything can happen, I can go back to my struggling basketball again. I just have to stay focused.”