The scouting report on Anthony Black is still the same.
The 6-foot-7 guard is a handful to deal with but his weakness is a suspect shot. And so teams still have it in their heads to let him shoot it.
Black has made strides in this regard, but Black is still overcoming a lot of preconceived notions about his game. He is working to disprove them as he grows and develops as a player. And when the Phoenix Suns left him open Monday, he made them pay.
Black made three of five 3-pointers, including a step-back three. That is the warning sign that he is due for a big game. And when Black has a good game, the Magic typically win. When Black is hitting shots, it means he is playing with confidence.
The scouting report said to let Black shoot. But it had little to say about all the other ways he impacts a game. And the Orlando Magic are learning quickly that he is a barometer for their success.
He turned the win over the Philadelphia 76ers on its head with his energy, pace and aggression. He turned in perhaps the best game of his career with a season-high 20 points and a career-high nine assists against the Suns on Monday.
Black was in complete control and the Suns were at his whims.
“He was great,” Jamahl Mosley said. “He puts in so much work. Between ups and downs, but he just continues to work and stay the course. His ability to get out on the break, to stay confident in his shot, his ability to guard as well. I’m just happy for him because of the amount of work he has continued to put in.”
Black has been the biggest standout on the team to this point in the season. Players buzzed about him during training camp and there was excitement for what the second-year guard would do with a firmer role in the rotation.
Even with his modest stats, nobody probably could have predicted him being someone the Magic lean on to close games and being the best pure point guard on the roster.
Black is averaging 8.5 points and 4.3 assists per game. He is shooting 42.3 percent from the floor and 30.6 percent from three. There is still room for improvement.
But Black’s play is correlated directly to winning. If you want a temperature check for this team, Black and how the Magic play in his minutes are usually a good sign.
Orlando is 8-0 in games where Black has a positive plus/minus and 1-6 in games where he has a negative plus/minus. Black averages 9.9 points per game and shoots a 57.8 percent true shooting percentage (and 41.7 percent from three) in wins compared to just 6.3 points per game and a 43.9 percent true shooting percentage (8.3 percent from three) in losses.
Everyone on the Magic saw this coming from Black with how he played in training camp. But even they probably could not predict Black would make this much of an impact.
“Not just recently, I feel like this whole year even in training camp everyone could see the strides he made in the offseason,” Franz Wagner said. “Obviously, he is really good at getting to the paint and he knows how to play. Some of the plays he makes off the dribble. It’s really tough to guard him. He’s 6-7, 6-8 almost moving like that, it’s really hard to defend.”
Black is still very young and plays like it at times. He still has a lot of room to grow. Moe Wagner said teammates are constantly urging him to stay on the attack and get to the basket.
His confidence is growing though. And that gives the Magic a lot of space to use him and let him loose.
It is working in major ways for the Magic right now.
