Excitement builds for Orlando Magic’s season opener

The Orlando Magic held their last practice before their season opener as the excitement builds for the Wednesday game against the Miami Heat.

Evan Fournier‘s breakout season last year did not get off to a good start.

On Opening Night in 2016, Evan Fournier made just one of his seven shots as the Magic lost a five-point lead late in the game and fell to the Washington Wizards. There were no clues then just what kind of season Fournier would have. And the Orlando Magic did not seem to have all their ducks in a row fully.

Then again, no one does in those opening games. There is so much excitement and anticipation building up into these games that they can be a little sloppy and a little bit of a crap shoot. It is just one game.

And that excitement can do a number on even the most prepared players.

“It’s going to be a lot of excitement obviously,” Fournier said. “We can’t let the hype and the excitement get into us. We have to be calm and focused on what we have to do to win a game and not play with our emotions.”

Staying calm is the message for the Magic heading into this first game.

There is a lot of pressure on the team this season. The emotion of the night — both as opening night and as the franchise’s way to memorialize the victims of the Pulse shooting this summer — will be overwhelming. The Magic though have waited all summer for this.

It has been a summer of massive change for the Magic. The team turned over the roster as much as any team in the league. There are new faces throughout the lineup. And new everything it seems.

The team is playing with much loftier goals in mind as they begin this long 82-game marathon known as the regular season. That pressure will create some nerves.

“Excitement through the roof,” Aaron Gordon said. “But nervousness and butterflies? That comes with it. I’ve put in a lot of work and as a team we’ve put in a lot of work. Nothing to be nervous about. Everything to be excited about. We’re going to come out, we’re going to play hard and we’re going to come out on top.”

The game does have a bit of the first day of school feeling to it.

Preseason games are nice and certainly provide a preview and brief glimpse into who the team may eventually become, but there is no replacement for the intensity of the first regular season game.

Aaron Gordon said the level of intensity in regular season games picks up, the stakes become more magnified and the focus is intensified. It makes the game more fun in many ways. That goes without saying. But the Magic needed their preseason to get on the same page. Their intensity was at times brilliant and at times lacking.

The Magic are still a bit of mystery entering the season. Yes, they now have seven preseason games under their belt and showed flashes of who they could be. But they will have to develop consistency in the heat of battles that count.

“Although it is only game one out of 82, everybody always approaches that game like it’s a huge one,” Nikola Vucevic said. “It is always important to start the season the right way. It can really help your confidence out if you win it, if you play well. It can really boost everything up for you early in the season. Especially for this team with new guys and a new coaching staff. It’s important that we start out the right way.”

The Magic’s margin for error feels very small. There will not be much time to waste away opportunities to build confidence and score some wins. That Playoff expectation and pressure is not going anywhere. And the Eastern Conference feels packed as ever.

There is plenty of confidence within the Magic organization and roster that this team will break through and make the Playoffs.

It may just take some time for all the pieces to come together. These first games are going to be critical in setting a strong tone for the rest of the year.

But the development will remain an ongoing and evolving process.

“It’s going to be an 82-game process,” Magic coach Frank Vogel said. “Ideally, you hit the ground running. But you don’t want to overreact if you don’t. If things aren’t working early, you’re really just learning about your team. You are able to make adjustments either by improving what you’re doing or changing what you’re doing. It’s important as one of 82. You want to get out to a good start, but we’re prepared for the long haul.”

There is no doubting though the excitement and importance of this first game. Even Vogel might have to admit that.

He did, after all, come out of the locker room during the team’s open practice a few weeks ago asking if the fans were tired of missing the Playoffs, all but promising the team would be in the postseason come April.

And there may be no better way to star the season than against one of the Magic’s greatest tormentors — the Miami Heat.

The division rivals are going through their own transition too. But they still hold some sort of dominance over the Magic — the Magic have won just twice against the Heat in the last four seasons. Both teams are fighting to make the Playoffs and for their place in the Eastern Conference.

“Honestly, I think playing Miami the first game is special,” Fournier said. “We don’t like them. They don’t like us. It’s no secret. It’s the Florida rivalry. It’s always great to play against them. There are going to be a lot of Heat fans tomorrow. Looking forward to it. It’s always good to play the Heat.”

Next: OMD Mailbag: Let's figure this out

Add in the typical excitement of the opening night and the emotion of the Pulse tribute, and it should be an intriguing opening night.