The Orlando Magic must win one of their next two games in order to stay in control of their playoff destiny and prove they belong in that group.
The hard part of the Orlando Magic’s season arrived before Christmas.
The Orlando Magic have already lost four of their last five games all against teams with championship aspirations, falling to the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and the Utah Jazz. A win over the struggling New Orleans Pelicans is the only positive in this difficult stretch of the schedule.
There is no shame in losing to Playoff-contending teams. But the Magic have to be careful not to lose sense of Playoff position. They need to recognize how important it is to win the games they need to. Right now the Magic lack a lot of resume-building wins that provide confidence for the tough journey ahead.
Orlando has done its job against teams with losing record, going 11-3 so far against those teams. They took care of business Sunday afternoon with a 130-119 win over the Pelicans to start this four-game road trip. It was an offensive showcase where the Magic held off the Pelicans’ 3-point barrage.
But the schedule does not get any easier from this point on. This is the proving ground for Orlando.
The Magic will need to wear their big boy pants for the remainder of the year but specifically for these next two contests against aspiring Playoff contenders from the Western Conference.
If the Orlando Magic, who sit a half-game ahead of the Charlotte Hornets for the final playoff spot, aspire to be in the playoff field these are the games they have to find a way to win. The Magic have just one win over a team with a winning record this season.
This Magic team has not really proven itself.
Tonight, the Orlando Magic travel to Denver to take on the Denver Nuggets inside of the Pepsi Center. This will be a daunting challenge for the Magic because the Nuggets boast an 11-3 record on their home floor and are currently on a three-game winning streak.
Denver is the fourth-best team in the Western Conference, led by Nikola Jokic. He is putting up a Russell Westbrook stat line against the Oklahoma City Thunder last Saturday. Jokic finished the game with 28 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists.
Some pundits believe Niokola Jokic is the best center in the NBA and it will be tough for a guy like Nikola Vucevic to guard him one-on-one because Jokic is arguably the most skilled big man in the NBA.
The Magic could turn their season around if they can pull off the victory against one of the best teams in the NBA. If they lose this game it will put more pressure on them to win the next one and earn a split on this four-game road trip.
And that next game is against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.
Portland advanced to the Western Conference Final in 2019 after beating Oklahoma City with Russell Westbrook and Paul George and Denver with Nikola Jokic and the sharp-shooting Jamal Murray.
Beating both in dramatic fashion, with Damian Lillard making one of the clutchest step-back game-winning shots in George’s face in round one and C.J. McCollum looking seemingly unstoppable in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinal inside of the Pepsi Center.
The Blazers have struggled coming out of the game, going 11-16 to climb back into their own playoff race in the Western Conference. But they still have all the weapons to score a ton of points. Damian Lillard made it a habit last year to torch the Magic last year and C.J. McCollum and Carmelo Anthony are more-than-capable as scorers.
The Magic have to find a way to score consistently on the road and play stiff defense in order to slow down that trio or it will be another long night.
The addition of Anthony has improved the depth of the roster, but the Magic do have the defensive personnel to limit his shot opportunities by denying the ball on the perimeter.
With that being said if the Magic loses the first game to the Nuggets, the second game against the Blazers will turn into a must-win early season game against a team that you should beat. And although the Trail Blazers have more star power, the Magic may just be the more complete team.
A loss to both teams and the Magic will plummet to the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference right behind the Hornets. If they win both games the Magic will be right where they need to be. Inside of the Playoff with a chance to improve on their seeding.
At some point, the Magic will have to add quality wins to their ledger. They will need impressive victories.
They left Salt Lake City disappointed that they let one slip away from them. Their rally to get back into the game gave them a late lead that they squandered with some ill-timed misses and poor defense.
The Magic know this road trip will require them to sharpen up on both ends to set themselves up for the race ahead.
For now, the Magic control their own destiny and have the inside track at that last playoff spot. But without gaining momentum, they could easily slip.
No better time than now to build the confidence and cushion to finish the race.