Gilbert Arenas happy coming off bench

Gilbert Arenas looked settled into his new Magic role Thursday night — 14 points, 9 assists off the bench.

Of course, everything with the Magic looked settled for one game — granted, one game against the team with the best record in the league, but one game. There still may be changes ahead.

But Arenas told the Orlando Sentinel he doesn’t want one of those changes to be him starting.

“I’m coming off the bench,” Arenas said. “Jameer’s (Nelson) starting and Jason (Richardson)… that’s the group. I’m coming off the bench and I do what I do. I don’t want to start. This team is too talented.”

Stan Van Gundy’s biggest challenge may be how to get Arenas, Nelson and Richardson all enough minutes. Which is not a bad problem to have.

Arenas seems to fit well in the Lamar Odom or old Manu Ginobili role — a star player willing to come off the bench who changes the game when he does enter. He did that against the Spurs, Arenas helped the Magic start to pull away.

As long as the wins keep coming, everyone is happy in Orlando.