Buy or Sell: Orlando Magic Playoff hopes not out of reach yet

The Orlando Magic are reeling and it feels like the world is falling. The Eastern Conference is not running away though and the Playoffs are still there.

The Orlando Magic are as low as low can get right now.

Losing 12 of 14 games in the month of January has the Magic in danger of losing everything they had worked so hard to build up in the first two months of the season.

The Magic are four games behind the Detroit Pistons for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. All the goals are still attainable, but that schedule does the Magic no favors. The gauntlet continues heading into next weekend’s All-Star Break and March does Orlando little favors too.

Things look pretty bleak unless the Magic find a way to turn things around and stop just showing glimpses of returning to that team and start actually winning games.

Last week, our Brett Roberts wrote the Playoffs are firmly slipping away:

"All in all, this is a team that is on the cusp of a postseason berth, but it is still likely another season away. The Magic’s upcoming stretch of games will be both defining and difficult — the next 10 games all come against playoff-caliber teams.If the Magic continue to play as they have, it will be 10 straight losses. But surely there can be some wins scattered in there, if the Magic react to what has not worked thus far."

Of course, it is easy to say that from the bottom of the rut. Things got really bad for the Magic. Games against the Philadelphia 76ers (all due respect) became exercises in finding effort. Double-digit leads at home became question marks. Those are the kind of losses that send a team spiraling further.

There were losses in the last month that felt like the last three years where the team’s motivation to win could legitimately be questioned. That growth and those growing pains were already supposed to be suffered through and completed.

But that good team is still in there. Buried deep somewhere in there. And like most .500 teams, the tide will turn and the team will start winning again at a healthy rate. The hope for the Magic is that it does not come too late.

As painful as the team’s close games and close-game losses have been — after Wednesday’s game, the Magic are 13-16 in games considered “clutch” by NBA.com. The 29 games played in those situations are among the league leaders.

That should go in the category of “so you’re saying there is a chance.” But what it gets to is the Magic are not particularly that far. They are competitive in most of their games. In January in particular, they are 2-7 in these kind of games.

Like most teams at the Magic’s level, the games come down to a few plays at the end. Plays Orlando is not making at the moment.

That is essentially the life of a .500 team. Their ability to take the step up to a winning record is determined by how they play in the numerous close games that they play throughout the season.

If you believe close games are essentially complete toss ups — 50/50 propositions — then the law of averages will bring things back around.

And that is why the Magic are not out of the Playoff race yet. The gap is widening and the margin for error is getting smaller — the Magic have to figure out how to get out of this rut and pick up wins — but the opportunities are all still there.

It is too early in the season to throw in the towel or pack it in for lottery balls. Far too early. The Magic are very much in the Playoff conversation and should consider themselves in that race still.

Looking at the standings, it feels very much like the entire Eastern Conference has started to fall back to its mean. The losing has been bad in Orlando, but the rest of the conference has lost too. It feels very much like 41 wins will be the number to reach the Playoffs. Only four teams right now have a winning record in the past 10 games — Cleveland, Toronto, Charlotte and Boston.

The Magic are another hot run through a 10-game stretch from being back in the Playoff race. That is the nature of this year’s Eastern Conference.

That does not mean the road will be easy though. That does not mean the Magic will easily waltz into the postseason. Winning has proven to be difficult.

The notion that the Playoffs as a goal are gone is giving in to the low of these losses and not the still reality of the team’s progress. That the Magic should trade assets to sacrifice this season or give up on some pieces in this core before the trade deadline is keeping things too short sighted and focusing too much on recent results.

Are there problems with this team? Yes. This season has revealed some issues with the core group that has to be resolved either at the trade deadline or in the summer during the offseason.

Is there still potential with this group? The answer to that question is yes too.

The Magic played extremely well in November and December. That team exists. And no one should forget that — it should make the disappointment of January even more sharp.

Learning to win has proven not to be easy. If this group is worth anything, they will figure it out at least on a temporary basis and make that push to accomplish even that silly baseline goal of being in the playoff conversation.

The Magic are still in contact of that final Playoff spot. They cannot forget that. Fans cannot forget that either.

The dream may be slipping away, but it is not slipping away that fast. It is still out there to achieve.

Next: The time is not right to move Nikola Vucevic

The hope is not gone yet.