Mario Hezonja

SF, Orlando Magic

Hezonja posted his first career double-double Saturday night. He was a +8, far better than any of his teammates, despite four turnovers and only two assists. Hezonja made a handful of nice passes and reads and put forth his usual high effort level on both ends.

He found himself facing LeBron James one-on-one more often than any other Magic player did. There are few players (if any at all) who can offer resistance in that situation, let alone get a stop. James scored 33. But Hezonja deserves credit for not backing down and offering whatever he could defensively.

His energy and gravity as a legitimate or perceived shooting threat were both welcome presences in the starting lineup. Elfrid Payton looks better alongside true wings, rather than lineups with a second point guard or ball handler like Jonathon Simmons. Payton has played most of his minutes this year in those lineups. But tonight he got more run with Hezonja, Afflalo and Iwundu and it looked much better.

Even if Jonathon Simmons is still the better player overall, Mario Hezonja has been making a compelling case to start and play in crunch time more often.