Orlando Magic Grades: Orlando Magic 118, New Orleans Pelicans 88

The Orlando Magic completed an impressive road trip with another dominant victory, topping the New Orleans Pelicans with a 30-point victory.

There was one moment of concern for the Orlando Magic against the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Pelicans had cut the Magic’s 27-point first-quarter lead down to 14. It looked like they would make this game a bit more of a challenge for the Magic as the team started coasting and stopped the ball and player movement. Attention had waned.

Coach Steve Clifford put an end to that quick in a timeout as he reloaded with his starters. Whatever was said in that huddle worked.

The team settled down and worked the ball to Nikola Vucevic first and foremost. He broke down Jahlil Okafor and Anthony Davis on the block and hit several big shots to steady the Magic.

And that would be all they needed. Really the team’s early kick of ball movement, cutting and shooting was all they needed, winning the first quarter 39-17 and taking such a firm grip on the game that it was hardly a challenge the rest of the way.

Orlando came out of the halftime locker room on fire as New Orleans waited until the last minute to try to straighten things out. The Pelicans never did. The Magic raced ahead by more than 20 points and led by as much as 31 in a 118-88 victory at Smoothie King Center on Tuesday.

The Magic started racking up some impressive factoids that show the team has turned a corner at least temporarily. Orlando is playing its best basketball in several years.

This is the first four-game win streak for the Magic since the 2015 season. This marked the first sweep of a road trip of three games or more since the 2009 Finals season. It is the first time in franchise history they have won three straight road games by 15 points or more.

All those are interesting factoids. But the reality is the Magic are playing fantastic overall.

They shot just 44.2 percent from the floor but dominated the game offensively and defensively throughout. Orlando hit 13 of 32 3-pointers and 21 of 22 free throws. New Orleans made just 38.3 percent of their shots and took just eight free throws. The Magic have had fouls derail solid defensive performances, but not tonight.

This was a strong showing to finish off this road trip. They shut down Anthony Davis (when Davis did not shut himself down).

But most importantly they seem to have a perspective on their success. They know they are playing well, but they know there is still work to do. Evan Fournier said the team is not celebrating anything, they still have ground to make up to get into the Playoff picture.

With performances like the past three outings, there is plenty of reason to believe they can keep making this push.

The Orlando Magic won their 26th game, surpassing last year’s win total. They trail the Detroit Pistons by 1.5 games for the final spot in the Playoffs.