Orlando Magic: 5 under the radar home games
Orlando Magic: 5 under-the-radar home games
November 5 vs. San Antonio Spurs
While the San Antonio Spurs do not exactly have the headline-grabbing names they once had, this home game in the early part of the season will say a lot about this young Orlando Magic team.
The Spurs are a similarly positioned young team full of guards and will prove to be a stern challenge.
Like the Magic, the Spurs are not projected to do very much this year. The proud perennial playoff team is retooling and trying to figure out how to advance their franchise again. But this is a team with a similar defensive mindset and plenty of young guards who can sneak up and surprise any team on a given night.
The two teams matched up well in the preseason and so this should make for a good game. Where the Spurs are now is the first stepping stone for this Magic team.
Assuming Jalen Suggs will be the starting point guard, he would be matched up with Dejounte Murray. This will be a great test of Suggs’ ability early on.
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Murray is a borderline All-Star, having averaged 15.7 points per game and 7.1 assists per game last year.
If Suggs can stand up to the competition or at the very least not look intimidated, it would show a lot of Magic fans the level of play they can expect from him all season long.
This game will also be vitally important for both Mohamed Bomba and Wendell Carter, who will be vying for a starting job early on or playing alongside each other. In Orlando’s four preseason games, each of them has had the chance to start at center.
Magic coach Jamahl Mosley will likely have a lot of leeway when it comes to Bamba and Carter early in the season but will not want to slide them in and out of the starting lineup all season long.
This meeting with San Antonio also comes at the end of a five-game stretch against the Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons, Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics. Besides Boston, all four of the other games should be labeled “winnable,” even for this young Magic team.
It is also the second game of a five-game homestand and is the longest homestand in the early part of the season. This will come just before the Magic’s schedule gets impossibly tough.
This is a vital game in that stretch then if the Magic are trying to compete. This is not a game the team can drop in the early part of the season. At least, on paper.
After major changes to the franchise last season in conjunction with two picks in the top 10, every Magic fan wants to know how far along this team is. If they can win three out of these five games it could say a lot about this Orlando squad. This last matchup against a middling San Antonio team will be the ultimate test to end it.