The Orlando Magic needed a boost off their bench since Isaiah Briscoe’s injury. Michael Carter-Williams was brought in to do that. In his first game, he did.
Michael Carter-Williams left his first game in an Orlando Magic uniform in a huff.
He and Atlanta Hawks rookie Trae Young were exchanging words back and forth before the officials finally stepped in. Michael Carter-Williams took the technical — a fine that will hit his pocketbook a lot harder than any other player on the team. But the spark was already lit well before then. And at least partially on Carter-Williams’ back.
In one fourth-quarter sequence, Carter-Williams dove on the floor to dig out a rebound. It led to a Hawks foul and the Magic’s possession. It was emblematic of the shift for the Magic with Carter-Williams in the game.
He was flying all over the court. When he had the ball, he pushed it up the court and drove into the lane. The team seemed much more alert throughout his nearly 16 minutes on the floor.
It was not so much a measurable impact, but an attitude change. The starters came out and, while the Magic’s production may have decreased some, the team’s energy did not. And the starters did not have to pick things back up. Carter-Williams was spearheading a bit of an attitude change for the Magic.
For a first game, Carter-Williams provided exactly what the Magic wanted to see and set a pretty high bar for what they can expect from him moving forward.
That is not something easy to do for a guy who failed to make a shot in the game. Carter-Williams still has all his flaws and rust to shake off. But in the role the Magic gave him Sunday, he clearly made a huge difference for the team.
The Magic have needed a bit of an energy boost and edge off the bench all season. And Sunday they maintained the right pace and energy throughout the entire game. It helped them overcome a poor shooting night to get a relatively comfortable win.
This was the exact boost the bench group needed.
Terrence Ross provides some of it with his shotmaking. But he is rarely the primary driver and creator for the team. That is why the Magic’s struggled with the backup point guard have been so central to the team’s success or failure.
When the Magic finally inserted Isaiah Briscoe into the lineup, there was an immediate change.
Where Jerian Grant is more of a guy who holds the boat steady, Isaiah Briscoe was a bit more of an instigator. Almost immediately, Briscoe’s willingness to get into the paint and cause the defense to collapse — and mix things up defensively, using his six fouls liberally — were catalysts for the team’s overall improvement.
With Briscoe out after getting surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, the Magic were searching to replace this. Jerian Grant was serviceable but was not quite providing everything the Magic needed.
In stepped Carter-Williams.
The Magic played at a much faster pace than any other time before at 111.2 possessions per 48 minutes. Perhaps part of it was the opponent — the Hawks play at the second-fastest pace in the league — but the Magic were playing with considerably renewed energy.
It bodes well for the team moving forward.
Carter-Williams was getting into the paint and forcing the defense to react to him. That second unit — even with Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier — has few players who can demand attention off the dribble. Carter-Williams seemed capable of driving into the lane and forcing the defense to collapse around him.
It was still imperfect, of course. And it is just the first game for him in a 10-day contract.
Carter-Williams looked a bit rusty after not playing in a NBA game since January. His jumper was way off — 0 for 3 from the floor with two misses from the 3-point line — and he was even missing free throws. Carter-Williams got to the line for eight free throws and nearly missed half of them, making five for the game.
Any offense the Magic get from Carter-Williams is a bonus. But he will have to make outside shots as defenses sag off him. The Hawks were already doing this.
Defensively, Carter-Williams was overplaying some and dancing around screens. His timing was a bit off as he got beaten off the dribble a few times. In his matchup with Young, that might have been purposeful.
The team was defending the 3-point line and did not seem to mind directing Young into the teeth of the team’s defense. The Magic scrambled effectively to challenge shots and force Young inside the line and into crowds throughout the game.
Orlando Magic
Still, Carter-Williams made plenty of plays that let his impact be known. He recovered well and did not let any missteps or mistakes keep him from getting involved.
One of his first plays saw him chase down Deandre Bembry after a turnover for a missed dunk. While Carter-Williams did not get credit for the block, Bembry was clearly aware Carter-Williams was nearby as he looked over his shoulder.
Not even Briscoe could make that kind of a play as pesky as he is on defense.
If the purpose for Carter-Williams then is to replace Briscoe and the energy and production he provides, his first game did seem to bring much of the same energy. It certainly refreshed that bench group.
Carter-Williams still has a lot of work to do, obviously.
He will still need to get acclimated to the rest of his team. It was a poor shooting night for the Magic, but he will need to be a better distributor of the ball. He failed to record an assist in his 15-plus minutes Sunday night and had only five potential assists, according to NBA.com’s Player Tracking Data.
And while visually it seemed Carter-Williams made a clear impact, the Magic’s offense still cratered while he was in the game. The team posted an 83.8 offensive rating with him on the floor and turned the ball over at an 18.9 percent turnover rate.
It is a one-game sample size so it is hard to draw too many conclusions quite yet.
But his early fourth-quarter play especially helped the Magic hold off a Hawks run. It gave them some energy and some juice to go out and finish the game. And that part was different.
The Magic can only hope that fire continues to burn as Carter-Williams gets more acclimated with his new team and teammates. The early results were at least visually encouraging.