The Magic had a chance to gain in the Power Rankings across the Web. They failed to do that at home. Now the road gets tougher and the outlook bleaker.
When the Magic looked at their schedule, they probably pinpointed late December as their opportunity to gain some distance from the cellar and gain some confidence.
As the team seemed to reach this point of the season with Playoff dreams dancing in their heads (or carefully being ignored), this stretch of home games seemed to reach more importance. More importantly, the national media was starting to believe and starting to notice the Magic as a potential dark horse team ready to burst through.
ESPN freaking moves the Magic’s road game in Dallas to national television — probably to move the Celtics out and feature Rajon Rondo more, but still!
Things have changed in the last three weeks.
The Magic are treading water at best and completely collapsing at worst. They dropped seven of nine games at home in late December since that difficult stretch of road games to open the season. The chance to get in the Playoff race and build confidence is gone.
The tough road through the NBA picks up now with the four-game trip out West and a bevy of tough games at home upcoming. The Magic’s season is very much on the line.
A few weeks ago, ESPN’s Hollinger Playoff Predictor had the Magic with a near-50 percent chance to make the Playoffs. That obviously assumed a lot of home wins. Now, that percentage has dipped to 1.2 percent (ahead of only New York and Philadelphia).
Things are dire indeed. This week’s Power Rankings roundup bears that out.
Next: Matt Dollinger, Sports Illustrated