Evan Fournier, Orlando Magic face Gary Harris, Denver Nuggets

The young Denver Nuggets will have to head to South Beach in the offseason if they want to spend some quality time there as the team faces the Orlando Magic tonight in the second of a back-to-back; after dropping last night’s game 124-119 in Miami.

The step up in competition on this five (now four) game road trip was evident last night. During the Nuggets’ seven game home stand their competition had a current combined record of 182-286 for a 38.8 percent win percentage. On this roadie the five teams have a combined record of 189-142 for a 57 percent win percentage.

The Magic are the “easiest” test on this trip with a current record of 28-37, and like every team in the NBA they have a better home record (17-16) vs. road record (11-21). Orlando, nursing plenty of injuries (see below), hasn’t played since getting waxed in Portland on March 12th to the tune of 121-84 with their shorthanded squad.

Injury Reports: 

Nuggets:                                           Magic:

Fournier or Harris

When Fournier was tearing up the league back in November by averaging 17.8 points per game, with three games of 26+ points, Nuggets fans and media were scratching their collective heads at the possibilities of still having Fournier in town.

Dealing Fournier to Orlando for Arron Afflalo eventually paved the way for Gary Harris to play a giant role this season; and Denver was able to swap Afflalo for Will Barton – plus what might end of being a first-round pick as the Portland Trail Blazers sit in the sixth seed in the Western Conference (Denver get the pick if Portland makes the playoffs).

As the starting two guards, Fournier is the Magic’s third leading scorer with 14.5 points per game this season and Harris is the sixth leading scorer for the Nuggets with 11.9 points per game this season. Barton has been filling a solid role off the bench and is Denver’s second leading scorer with 14.8 points per game and the team’s third leading rebounder with 6.1 per game.

Here is a look at the player comparisons between Fournier and Harris this season. Keep in mind that Fournier is 23 year-old, two years the elder of Harris.

Both players are experiencing tremendous growth with their respective teams, and Fournier will be in line for a hefty raise this offseason as a restricted free agent with a $3.2 million qualifying offer. It’s likely that Fournier will ink a deal that will pay him $10M plus per season moving forward with the new TV money set to sink in — anything less would be a great deal for the young Frenchmen.

Meanwhile, Harris has seen a big uptick in production in March. From October through February he averaged from 10.6 points to 12.2 points per game, but has been scoring 16.6 points per game in March — including 21 points against the Nets and 18 last night vs. the Heat.

Plays like this open court steal on Dwyane Wade for the pretty floater finish have come to be expected from the Michigan State product.

Harris’ step up in production has been exactly what the Nuggets have needed in Danilo Gallinari’s absence. However, Harris’ 3-point shooting has been a little erratic this season. He shot 45.5 percent in November and 41.8 percent in January, but December (27.7 percent), February (28.8 percent) and March (28.1 percent) haven’t been too kind to the second year standout. The next step for Harris will be learning to deal with the grueling 82 game slate the NBA demands.

Michael Malone has been playing Harris more than anyone could have expected after his rookie season. Harris has already surpassed his total games played from his rookie season at 61 from 55; and he has crushed his minutes played at 1,961 this season compared to just 719 last season. What a difference a year makes as Harris’ confidence on the floor is through the roof after being jerked around by Brian Shaw as a rookie. In Gary Harris, Michael Malone trusts.

King Joffrey Returns

Joffrey Lauvergne suffered a nasty facial fracture against the Washington Wizards, but didn’t miss a single game and played last night vs. the Heat with the assistance of a facial mask. His right eye still is swollen and bruised, but it was impressive that he didn’t sit out and logged 12 minutes against the Heat, scoring 10 points on 4-7 shooting.

Mudiay and Jokic tearing up March

Jokic is averaging 13.1 points and 8.9 rebounds in March, where he’s also playing the most minutes of the season at 26.9 per game. The Nuggets have found themselves in plenty of fourth quarter games this season, and Malone is finding ways to get them on the floor to close things out. Last night in Miami, Malone chose to go with Nikola Jokic over Kenneth Faried, who was 11-11 from the field for 24 points, and said after the game he did so to get Jokic experience in those situations for his future.

It was a bit of an odd move as Faried could have easily been in the game for Darrell Arthur at power forward, but Malone seemed to trust Arthur’s defense on Joe Johnson late in the game. Denver’s starters (Mudiay, Harris, Sampson, Faried, Jokic) were a combined +48 last night to the bench’s -68, so it might have seemed playing the starters would have been the wise move for the win, but alas it didn’t happen. The rationale of going with Jokic was the right one, but not returning to the entire starting lineup played a role last night.

Meanwhile, Mudiay is playing like the rookie of the year candidate that many knew he was capable of before the season started. He earned his third career double-double last night with 23 points and 10 assists, and his March birthday celebration continues. He’s averaging 20.1 points and 6.3 assists in March — which would both put him at No. 1 among rookies on the season (Karl-Anthony Towns leads the way at 17.7 ppg). March has been good to plenty of rookies as Devin Booker is averaging 23.6 points per game in March, D’Angelo Russell is averaging 20.9 ppg, Towns 20.6 and then Mudiay.

Currently, Mudiay leads all rookies in assists with 5.8 per game and is tied for 5th in scoring with Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns with 12.3 points per game. Every shot Mudiay makes, you can’t help but feel good for him with all the work he’s put in this season.