Orlando Magic Power Rankings Roundup: Staring into the abyss
Matt Moore, CBS Sports
41. The Warriors don’t have any signature wins or big impressive performances since the meltdown vs. Memphis, but all the other teams slipped in front of them. So headed into their rematch against Cleveland Monday, they re-take the top spot. The good news is their M.O. over the past year is that they’re great at holding leads, so this should be fine.. (35-6). Previous: . Golden State Warriors. 1. team
170. Their biggest problem remains that good shooters aren’t hitting shots so far for some reason. But they also just keep finding ways to lose games they should win and if they don’t correct it, it will cost them in the end.. (20-21). Previous: . Charlotte Hornets. 18. team
19. team. 38. Hey, they made it all the way to mid-January in the playoff race! That’s swell! I mean, it’s over now as they’ve lost seven of 10, but for a while, hope was a good thing.. (17-26). Previous: . Orlando Magic
20. team. 93. Philly’s won five of seven, and at this point I’m amazed my computer even let me type that without error messages popping up that read “Did you mean ‘lost five of seven?'” But, no, here we are. Miracles can happen.. (13-26). Previous: . Philadelphia 76ers
Matt Moore has been pretty low on the Orlando Magic all year. But him keeping the Magic in the top-20 is perhaps a sign both of his low expectations for this team and the fact the Magic have enough talent to make you believe but not enough to do anything about it.
Orlando has certainly done a good job treading water. It has been a slow burn out of the Playoff race.
But January has proven itself to be the deciding point for the team again. The road trip and difficult games at home have buried the Magic. And those Playoff hopes are glimmering.