In the LA Lakers' 112-95 win in Minnesota Friday night, former Magic SF Matt Barnes had a sensational stat line of 24 points on 7 of 7 FG shooting, including 5 of 5 on three pointers and 5 of 5 FT shooting for a freakish eFG% of 135.7% and TS% of 130.4%.  He also added 7 rebounds and 6 assists and 2 steals.  According to ESPN, this was only the third time in the last 25 years that a player has scored 20+ points along with 5+ rebounds and 5+ assists on 100% FG shooting in a game.  The other two players to accomplish that were Charles Barkley and Gary Payton.

Even though it's early in the season, I wanted to compare Barnes' season statistics with the Lakers to the Magic's Quentin Richardson, who the Magic signed to take Barnes' place at SF.  Barnes, in 21.3 minutes a game, is averaging 9.4 ppg, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists and is shooting 50% from the field, including 46.7% on three pointers with a TS% of 60.7%.  Richardson, in 21.4 minutes a game, is averaging 6.5 ppg, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists and is shooting 35.6% from the field, including 27.7% on three pointers with a TS% of 46.4%.

Many Magic fans were really disappointed to see Barnes leave the Magic because of the toughness and energy he brought to the team, but the signing of Richardson was supposed to be better for the Magic offense because Q can stretch the floor a lot better with his shooting than Barnes.  So far this season, that has not proven to be the case, and there is no question Barnes is doing much better for the Lakers than Q is for the Magic, but with Richardson's 15 points on Thursday against Phoenix, hopefully that's a sign of better things to come for Q, as there's still a long way to go in the season.