The Orlando Magic are in the thick of the race for the NBA Playoffs. But they are not thinking that at all nearing the season’s midpoint.
The NBA schedule is nearing its halfway point and it is hard not to look at the standings and not think about the Playoffs. Really, it is human nature at least to see how the Magic stack up and what they need to do to make the Playoffs. Especially since, overall, the Magic have been surprising with their strong road play and solid play overall.
Or maybe it is just that the East has fallen to the Magic’s level.
Whatever the case may be, through 35 games (the most any team in the NBA has played so far), the Magic are 13-22 and two games behind the Heat for the final spot in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. They are now four games behind Friday’s opponent, the Nets, for the seventh spot.
That is close enough at least to think about the Playoffs and, maybe, whisper it in the back halls of the Amway Center.
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“We are obviously aware of where we are at,” Nikola Vucevic said. “But our main focus should really be at getting better every day. We are in a solid position as far as the Playoffs, but I think we still have a lot of room to improve before we can really focus on that. Our main goal should be to get better as a team and take care of the things we weren’t doing right. When we take care of those things, the Playoffs and all that will take care of itself.”
Magic general manager Rob Hennigan said before the season that one of the measures for this team would be to play more meaningful games later into the season. At this point last season, the Magic were 10-22 and three games out of a Playoff spot. By the end of January, 2014, the Magic were 13-35 and eight games out of the Playoffs.
The Magic are better record-wise and about the same distance out of the Playoffs. The next 30-or-so days could determine whether the Playoffs become more than just a whisper or whether the team flames out.
It is true, there is very little Playoff experience on this roster. That could play a factor down the stretch if the Magic stay in this thing. Channing Frye, Ben Gordon and Luke Ridnour have, of course, played in the postseason through their long careers. But only Nikola Vucevic (one game, three minutes) and Evan Fournier (four games, 53 minutes) have played in the Playoffs on the roster.
For better or worse, Orlando is going to be navigating these waters without a lot of experience. But probably also less expectation too. The focus of the organization is still on long-term goals.
“I am as a coach, but a lot of these guys haven’t been in this position before,” Jacque Vaughn said. “They probably have no idea. I won’t mention it to them. But what I will mention is we haven’t played well at home. That is what is important for today’s games. We have two games back-to-back at home. Can we take advantage of that?”
Vaughn said he is not going to break the schedule up too much or put too much pressure on specific games. With the way the Magic have played this year — that being, maddeningly inconsistent — no game has proven to be an “automatic.” Orlando simply is not good enough yet to walk into the arena and expect to roll over and win. Recent losses to Philadelphia and Detroit have proven that.
And those could be the very games that come back to bight Orlando should the team remain in the Playoff chase.
Certainly the team will know more after it returns from a West Coast trip next week following this rare home back-to-back against Brooklyn and Charlotte.
For now, the approach is to focus on the team itself and what they need to do.
“I don’t tell them nothing about the Playoffs right now,” Channing Frye said. “I think we still need to focus on ourselves. We win games that we are maybe supposed to lose and we are losing games we are supposed to win. We need to find consistency with who we are and what level of energy and passion and commitment it takes to win games. I think right now, the best thing for us to do is not talk about the Playoffs.
“Until we address that issue with us and until we address the inconsistency, we will talk about the P-word later.”
Mum is the word for now as the Magic come into their own individually as a team. If the team does that, things should take care of themselves.
Next: Where do the Magic stack up in this week's Power Rankings?