Orlando Magic’s homestand will be critical to development and season hopes

The Gauntlet is almost here.

The stretch of games lasting from the team’s first big road trip to the East and Midwest following this current homestand and moving on to include the first West Coast trip and then a series of difficult games throughout with precious few appearances at the Amway Center is on the way.

The crucible by which the Magic’s season is likely to finally sink like a rock to the bottom or shock the world is on the way.

It is still early enough in the season to dream of the Playoffs — although it is far too early in the season to obsess over the standings. But with a stretch on the horizon of 16 road games in 22 outings including 14 opponents from the 2021 Playoffs (and a few more who have started off better than expected), the Magic’s current five-game homestand seems to take on more importance.

The Orlando Magic have a difficult, road-heavy schedule on the horizon. It makes this homestand important to pick up wins and develop internally.

The Orlando Magic have already been road-weary to start the season — six of the team’s first eight entering Wednesday’s game against the Boston Celtics were on the road.

A chance to reset at home will be a welcomed sight.

It will not only allow the team to refresh their batteries some and win (theoretically) where it is easier to do so. But it will give the team the chance for some much-needed practice — even perhaps giving some injured players the chance to be around and integrate with the team.

This is a big homestand. It may well decide whether the team could surprise the league this year or if this is going to be the season everyone thinks it will be.

It will be a chance to cement the team’s identity and reinforce their principles from training camp. There are rare chances to get this reset during the season, especially with the difficult road that lies ahead.

This is a chance to get comfortable and confident.

"“I think it’s big,” coach Jamahl Mosley said before Wednesday’s game against the Celtics. “I think our guys getting the comfort level of being at home, around the great fans and getting that support. I think we did a good job on the road of understanding of what we have to do going into different environments. But now being at home and guys having a routine for a while and understanding we’ll have some practice time, I think it’s going to be big for us.”"

The Orlando Magic certainly understand that entering the start of this homestand with the Celtics on Wednesday. The Celtics came in with their own struggles and turmoil but were able to rout the Magic 31-10 in the third quarter to win the game 92-79.

Still, there were positive signs from that game as the Magic continue to work to put all the pieces together.

They will be able to get back on the horse Friday with an opening night rematch against the similarly struggling 2-6 San Antonio Spurs. The schedule gets measurably more difficult after that to conclude the homestand — the 6-1 Utah Jazz, the 5-3 Brooklyn Nets and the 5-3 Washington Wizards.

Every game is tough for a 2-7 team like the Magic though. Their focus is rightly still on themselves and how they can use this time to continue improving.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of the next two weeks will be the practice time the team gets to cement principles from training camp and clean things up in the comforts of the AdventHealth Practice Facility. And, yes, perhaps the chance to include injured players who have not yet hit the road with the team yet.

"“We had a long road kind of trip to start off the season,” R.J. Hampton said after Wednesday’s loss to the Celtics. “Having these five games at home is really good for us to test where we’re at, coming up in this homestand. Just for guys to get their minds right and get back on track with this homestand that we have. Practice time is going to be very valuable, sitting down watching film, being able to stay off the road and stay off the plan is going to be very valuable for us.”"

The road ahead is going to be very difficult beyond this homestand. But it is hard to look too far into the future.

Still, this stretch of games will be critical for the team to find its rhythm and where it belongs in the league.

In the last five games, the Magic have looked markedly improved (even including Wednesday’s offensive struggle). The team is 16th in offensive rating (105.9 points per 100 possessions) and 19th in defensive rating (108.2 points allowed per 100 possessions) during that time. There is area for improvement, but it has led to the team being significantly more competitive.

The Magic want to see both sides of the ball continue to improve. And time at home will theoretically make the team better. Young teams typically play better at home. And the team showed some solid resilience during the road trip.

"“That’s going to be very valuable, especially for a team like this,” Wendell Carter said after Wednesday’s loss. “Just to get out on the court together, run through the schemes and be able to prepare for each game a little bit better. I feel like that’s going to help us out a lot.”"

The way the team’s schedule set up, the Magic were always going to have to be a late push team. Analyses on the schedule based on 2021 results had the Magic with one of the most difficult schedules to start the season and one of the easiest to finish.

The most difficult part of the schedule is on the horizon. And so if the Magic, who are already 2.5 games behind the final play-in spot, want to stay within shouting distance of the playoff race, they likely need to get some wins during this stretch. Wins may be hard to find once they hit the road in the coming weeks.

Orlando is still openly saying they are looking for small victories. Mosley is anything but positive. And they will have to hold onto those and build them into something more consistent moving forward. It may be hard to come up for air once the team dives into that difficult stretch that starts in two weeks.

This is their chance to learn how to swim. They better learn how to swim.

Whether the Magic pick up a winning record in this homestnad or not. The team is going to learn a lot about itself and how they need to play for the tough road ahead.