How reasonable are Orlando Magic’s playoff hopes?
The Orlando Magic have won three-straight games and are within 5.5 games of the final playoff spot in the East. Can the Magic sneak in?
38. 98. 93. Final. 103
It took 58 games for it to happen, but don’t look away now: The Orlando Magic have won three-straight ball games.
Since firing Jacque Vaughn and instilling James Borrego as head coach, the team has gone 4-2 and is now 5.5 games behind No. 8 Brooklyn for the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
And getting there just seems possible now, does it not?
While it is always easy to inflate the measures of success when it comes to a struggling team, there are too many positives to pull from the short time in the James Borrego era to let all go ignored.
The Magic are 4-2 under the young Borrego, and only the Indiana Pacers are playing better basketball of the teams directly in front of Orlando in the East’s playoff picture.
The Indiana Pacers have won three straight and may be getting Paul George back, but the No. 7 Miami Heat just lost Chris Bosh for the season. The Magic are at full health now, having just brought back Tobias Harris, and this team is very good when fully intact with all pieces functioning well together.
Maybe that can be said about any given NBA franchise. If healthy, each team is talented enough in this league to win ball games, but the Magic are now.
After a full two seasons of hearing fans and analysts league-wide beam over the Magic’s potential, we may finally be beginning to see it unfold. Elfrid Payton is grabbing attention with his stat stuffing electric play, and Victor Oladipo took the hearts of the nation with his karaoke and dunks on All-Star weekend.
Nikola Vucevic already has displayed his dominance at several junctures thus far, but continued to stamp his game-changing impact on games with his 31-point, 14-rebound effort Sunday night in the 103-98 win over Philly.
The one-time Sixer shot 14 of 24 against his former team, but he told FSFlorida that playing the Sixers is not really something he thinks about anymore because the trade happened a long time ago, and it has lost its initial meaning since becoming a featured chip in the trade that brought he, Maurice Harkless, Arron Afflalo and multiple draft picks to Orlando.
Few imagined at that time that the second-year pro would be a better NBA player than Howard in three seasons, but it is difficult to make the argument that anything other than that has occurred.
Howard’s injuries have taken their toll on his body, while Vucevic is young, agile and has both soft touch and great hands. His skills will make him a much more effective back to the basket player than Howard ever was, and he is already a better passer out of double teams.
Given that the Magic now have one of its best defensive backcourts in franchise history and a legitimate franchise center, could the playoffs be nothing but a foregone conclusion next season?
That may be stretching it.
This is just three straight victories, but the difference really seems to be that this team is playing in a way it has been capable of all along. Jacque Vaughn was not making the most of player rotations, and Borrego has been unafraid to make drastic changes.
For better or worse, Kyle O’Quinn has played one minute in the past two games. Andrew Nicholson saw big minutes in the win over New Orleans but saw just four in the Sixers contest. Willie Green caught fire and stole Evan Fournier’s playing time because of it.
Though it required Borrego to go extremely small with Green at the small forward spot, he did so because Tobias Harris is rusty right now, and the matchup just worked out.
Since the Sixers were playing Robert Covington at the 3-spot, Green was forced at times into covering a player six inches taller than him, but he did. And when Green is hot, that is the trade off to keep him in games.
The adaptations Borrego has made to get the most out of a bench not saturated with talent has been impressive and slightly innovative. There may be more changes to come: Aaron Gordon is a high-energy player whose talents may emerge as the Magic gain cohesiveness. Nicholson will have his nights. Dewayne Dedmon’s energy alone can take over games in small stretches, and both Green and Evan Fournier can get cooking to keep the second unit in games.
These are all the hallmarks of a team that is, at least, capable of playing .500 basketball, and if it does far better than that, somehow makes the postseason—and moves forward with its first playoff appearance under its belt—then James Borrego may be a long-term fix as a head coach.