The Orlando Magic’s home season has been fraught with disappointment. But the Magic want to thank the fans for sticking with them through it.
It has not been easy heading tot he Amway Center every night. Even for someone in the media, this team has had a lot more downs than ups at the Amway Center.
There was the gut-wrenching loss at the buzzer to Bradley Beal and the Wizards, the blown leads against the Heat and Bulls and the blowouts to the Warriors, Thunder and Clippers. It has been rough.
Even after Wednesday’s win against the Bulls, it is hard to pinpoint the great memories for the 2015 home season.
Tobias Harris hit a buzzer-beater over the Hawks in December. The Magic blew out a plucky Bucks team in mid-November. The Magic ran past the Rockets in January. Victor Oladipo dropped back-to-back 30-point games in a 1-1 split.
Some of these are something of a stretch. The Magic’s 13-26 home campaign has been something of a disappointment after the team seemed to break through last year for 19 home wins. The Amway Center was a place teams started to feel a tinge of fear about as the team played with confidence at home.
This year, that rhythm and that confidence never got established. It was a slog to get to Amway Center and watch this team at times.
The last three years have been tough for Magic fans in general.
As bad as things have gotten, Wednesday was nice. It was a win against a quality Playoff team with plenty of opposing fans in the building where the Magic played like a really strong team, showing poise and composure down the stretch. Capped off with some stellar play from the Magic’s young players.
The Amway Center got as loud as it has gotten all season as the Magic pulled out the victory.
“It was very important,” Nikola Vucevic said afterward. “The fans have been great for us throughout the whole year. The last three seasons have been tough for us as much as it is for them. They want to see us win. They are there every game. They support us every game. Even out of the games, wherever you go around the city, they are there to tell you great things. It is important for us and it’s important for us to finish the season the right way and the next two games at home to pay them back for being there for us the whole year.”
Even with the Magic struggling to stay relevant in the Playoff conversation and losing a ton of games, the Magic still have a fan base that is hungry to see the team perform and do well.
When the team was at its lowest in late January, facing blowout home losses to Dallas and Milwaukee, fans let their displeasure in the team show with a cascade of boos for head coach Jacque Vaughn. It is unfortunate when that happens, but at least it shows the Magic fans and their fan base cared.
And largely they do care. That has been made evident throughout the season, even as attendance has waxed and waned throughout the season.
As Rob Hennigan likes to say, this is all a process.
Magic attendance has not been the strongest this season — about 16,788 per game and the total attendance in 23rd in the league — but there have been some legitimately good atmospheres built, whether from the opposing fans or Brazilian tourists or whomever. There is a Magic fan base that is hungry for this team to do well.
“We just want to give them something to believe in. It has been a tough year. At the end of the day, we’re making progress.” –Victor Oladipo
The team has repeatedly stated it wants to build momentum for the offseason in these final games. They know how important it is to going to the offseason with a positive frame of mind, rather than limping to the end as they have done the last two years. For the team’s continuing growth, it is important to have those tangible positive moments.
It is important for the fans to have that too. And as Fan Appreciation Weekend kicks off at Amway Center on Friday, the team recognizes this too.
“We just want to give them something to believe in,” Victor Oladipo said. “It has been a tough year. At the end of the day, we’re making progress. I know it is sounding kind of old fashioned, but we’re young. At the end of the day, we’re trying to get better. We’re trying to get this thing back and trying to get to dominance.”
It is certainly a long, hard road to the top.
Magic fans know that from the dozen years of wandering in the desert following Shaquille O’Neal‘s departure and the false starts and failed expectations of the Anfernee Hardaway and Tracy McGrady-led teams.
So as fans get their free giveaways — Magic sunglasses to the first 5,000 fans at Friday’s game and rally towels to the first 10,000 fans Saturday, free parking, a free Chick-Fil-A gift card to 10,000 fans after both games and discounts at the Magic Team Shop — and celebrate the end of the season, they will get a chance to see their final glimpse into the future and their lasting memory to carry them over to the 2016 season when it starts in October.
As Vucevic said, fans around the city have been complimentary of the team and the way they have been building. There is a reserved excitement, at the very least, for what the team is building. Getting them out to the stadium and creating that consistent energy will take getting some consistent winning. Everyone knows this.
And everyone is working toward it.
The fans, as this weekend will try to show and recognize, have been a big part of the journey.
“The fans are a big part of what we do,” coach James Borrego said before Wednesday’s game against the Bulls. “We play for them every night. They are a part of our culture, our city, our entire program. We want them to be proud of this team and fight for this team. We’re going to battle every night to make them proud of our group. These three games are critical to that as we head into the summer. We want to keep that momentum going. We love our fans and we want to give them a product that they can be proud of.”
So to the fans that have made it through these 41 homes games and this 82-game season, thanks for being a part of the journey. There is still a ways to go and the team knows it.
The quest for something greater continues.