Orlando Magic Power Rankings Roundup: One thing or another
It is easy to believe the Orlando Magic are playing better and have some reasons to be optimistic. Then again, the losses keep coming.
The Orlando Magic started last week with a stern warning of the work they had to do.
The 17-point lead the team lost to the Washington Wizards and the double-digit lead the team lost at home to the New York Knicks the following night were major setbacks. The kind of games that showed what the Magic could be but also how far they still had to go.
Orlando was trying to build something. The statistics were suggesting Orlando was turning a corner and could finish the season strong. It was exactly what the Magic wanted to see for the season’s final quarter.
The Magic defeated the Chicago Bulls in a gutsy victory. The kind of win that seemingly put all the pieces together and helped crystallize the Magic’s culture. It was a result to build on.
As Orlando has done all season, any chance for the team to build momentum gets dropped pretty quickly. And sometimes dropped completely off a cliff.
Orlando has been unable to sustain any type of momentum. And this week the Magic’s good play seemed to just halt completely.
Orlando Magic
No one saw the magic losing by 40 points to the Charlotte Hornets last Friday. It felt like, with the way the team had played since the All-Star Break, those days of that gigantic blowout were long behind them. Clearly, they were not. The Magic were out of the game early and coach Frank Vogel was left once again questioning the team’s “competitive spirit.”
That is supposed to be a given. And it is the bare minimum a team needs to build the kind of culture the Magic want to build. Everything is still a work in progress.
Monday’s loss to the Sacramento Kings was certainly not a step in the right direction either. The team played with effort and energy and fought to make it a gam, but were extremely sloppy on both ends and lost a game they clearly could have won with a little more attention to detail.
The Magic are still searching for consistency and a bit of a firmer hold of their identity even as they change their style.
For the last two weeks it feels like one step forward, a half step back, another step forward and then two steps back. Where that leaves the Magic? Who knows?