Magic's 'Scary' Ceiling Showing Over Recent Stretch
Heading into the season, the Orlando Magic (13-21) did not have a lot of faith from oddsmakers to win many games this year - nonetheless reach the play-in tournament.
Now nearing the midway point of the season, the Magic sit just 2.5 games out from 10th place in the East and final postseason spot.
This comes in large part to the teams recent success over the past three weeks - winning eight of their last ten games, including a six-game streak from December 6th-18th.
“I think about their team and roster,” former NBA guard J.J Redick said on his Old Man and the Three Podcast. “How good would it be for their development…because they already have talent, to get the opportunity to play in a high pressure play-in game, to go down the stretch of the regular season in March in April and actually be playing meaningful basketball with high intensity.”
By defeating the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, the Magic picked up its 13th win on the year, a mark they didn't reach last season until February 8th - nearly a six-week improvement.
“I think we just gotta continue to prove ourselves to the rest of the league that we’re a good team,” Paolo Banchero said. “We’ve just been buying in lately and really coming together as a group and it’s been showing. I think the team's starting to have that attitude too of not letting [losing] be the normal vibe around the organization."
With the returns of guards Gary Harris, Markelle Fultz and big man Wendell Carter Jr. over the past few weeks, once the most injury riddled team in the association, is now able to play a majority of its young core.
“They’ve been a good basketball team with [Carter Jr.] on the floor,” Redick said. “As he gets healthy and integrated into the lineup, at some point they’re gonna put a team out with five really good basketball players.”
However, there is still a ton more room to grow.
With a favorable schedule over the second half of the season, including two games against the Charlotte Hornets, three against the Detroit Pistons and four vs. the Washington Wizards, the Magic has a case to build upon the recent momentum.
Add that, on top of the returns of Chuma Okeke, Jalen Suggs and the long-awaited Jonathan Isaac back into the lineup, the once-thought-to-be lottery team lock could begin to shake up the standings as the season carries on.
“They feel like a unique match-up problem for certain teams” Tommy Alter said. “They just feel a little unpredictable to me in terms of there’s not one guy you need to lockdown and that’s it with them.
“I think they are scary in a lot of ways as a team. You don’t really want them coming into town.”
Orlando is back on the court tomorrow night against the Los Angeles Lakers.
You can follow Riley Sheppard on Twitter @RileyDSheppard.
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