
What We Learned This Week
By David Iwanowski
The Magic still have some progress to be made if they want to make the Playoffs.
The Magic lost their sixth game out of the past seven Thursday, and they have struggled with consistency.
The Magic bench, which was a big weapon in the team’s hot December, got completely outplayed by the Raptors’ bench. They are still 13th in the league in bench points per game, 11th in the league in bench field goal percentage, seventh in bench points against, and fourth in bench field goal percentage against. Those stats suggest their depth has been a strength all season.
However, the bench unit combined for 20 points in this game, with four of the five reserve players having a negative plus/minus rating. Toronto, on the other hand, had 43 bench points from four players, all of whom had very positive plus/minus ratings.
The Magic are now 2-10 against teams currently aligned to make the Playoffs in the East, and they will need to start winning some of those games in order to make a serious push at a playoff spot.
Next: Power Rankings Roundup