Magic may be without budding star Fournier against Celtics

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The Orlando Magic may be without one of their top scorers when they host the Boston Celtics on Sunday night.

Orlando head coach Scott Skiles told reporters on Saturday that Evan Fournier has a bruised hip.

“I’m not sure what his status will be for (Sunday),” Skiles said.

The Magic (8-8) have been one of the surprise teams in the Eastern Conference this season, winning their last two games by an average of 16.5 points per game. And those two wins were over New York and Milwaukee, a pair of teams that the upstart Magic will likely have to surpass in order to get to the postseason.

One of the reasons for Orlando’s success this season has been the play of Fournier, an early front-runner for the league’s Most Improved award. The 6-foot-7 guard has started all 16 games for the Magic this season, and is averaging a career-high 17.7 points per game while shooting 40.2 percent from 3-point range. If he is unavailable, the Magic will likely re-insert Victor Oladipo in the starting lineup.

Head coach Scott Skiles made the decision to have Oladipo come off the bench prior to Orlando beating New York earlier this week.

“It’s nothing punitive,” Skiles told reporters. “It’s just we feel like we’ve got to try to find a little bit better balance. I’d like Victor to have some more opportunities like he’s had a little bit in the past where he can be on top of the floor and attack and get a little bit more vertical and not only get to the rim but just be a little bit more on the attack but not necessarily start the game that way.”

The Celtics made a similar decision with Avery Bradley, who came off the bench for four games following a calf injury. During those four games, he averaged 18.5 points while shooting 55.4 percent from the field and 52.9 percent on 3s. Bradley is back in the starting lineup with Marcus Smart (left knee bruise) out.

In the four games since replacing Smart in the Celtics’ starting lineup, Bradley has averaged 19.5 points and 2.5 steals while shooting 45.3 percent from the field and 44.1 percent on 3s.

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