In the sullen locker room after the Orlando Magic's loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, no one looked too far ahead. The constant march of the NBA schedule rarely affords much time to sit back and reflect. There is always another game.
And this loss was particularly bad, giving up a lead in the final two minutes with a chance to advance in the NBA Cup. The Magic may have already packed their bags for Las Vegas even as they prepared to leave Milwaukee the next night, just in case.
In the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's loss, Moe Wagner said he and the team would take a few days off if the NBA schedule gave it to them, but nobody was asking for it. It is the league, the schedule comes fast and furious. The Magic were ready to get back on the horse and play again.
By the time he was home Friday, Wagner was eager for the chance to settle in at home for the next three weeks. The schedule has given the Magic a break, and nobody is complaining about it.
"I'm super excited. I unpacked my stuff first day," Wagner said after practice Friday. "It's the first time in my career that I'm home for three weeks straight. I'm going to enjoy that a little bit obviously. You can't forget life along this journey. It's important to mental peace to come here and be focused and go away and live your life. That's a big part."
While sitting inside the schedule, the players just play the games in front of them. The NBA makes the schedule and the players show up and play. There is not a ton of overthinking when it comes to what the team faces.
A busy start
The end of the NBA Cup gave the team some much-needed time to rest and recover and gave the team some time to reset at home. The rest of the month brings a seven-game homestand where the team might get Paolo Banchero back.
The Orlando Magic have had a busy schedule playing the most games in the league so far at 27. The team has played most road games this season with 17 (the next team has played 15). It follows they have played the fewest home games in the league at 10–going a perfect 10-0 so far at the Kia Center.
It has been a wild start to the season. It is even wilder considering one more fact:
The Magic have not had more than one day off between games since Nov. 15-18 before the team took its West Coast trip to Phoenix and Los Angeles.
Nobody has any excuses for any of their losses. The schedule eats up everyone at some point. And it all evens out in the end—the Magic's seven-game homestand will even up their home/road split. But everyone could use some days off to get some practice time and recovery.
The Magic have not had that until now.
"Of course, you always want days in between games to get your rest or your treatment to be prepared for the next game," Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said after practice Saturday. "To have multiple days before games is always great too. You get to rest, you get to watch film, fix things, come into the gym and work on the things you need to fix. That is always great when you need to prepare for someone."
These are humans, everyone can feel a little burn out. And despite the private charter flights and nice hotels, travel can still take a lot out of a team.
Even before considering how well the Magic have played at home, the Magic are probably happy to get some time at home. Since Tuesday's game they have practiced twice and they are scheduled to practice twice more before Thursday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
A chance to reset
Being in the AdventHealth Training Center should enable players to get healthy -- giving freer court time to Paolo Banchero to begin ramping up his recovery, for instance, as he showed after Saturday's practice. Everyone will feel a lot better and this could be a refresh for this team.
It has been a busy schedule for the Magic. And they have succeeded in going 17-10 despite the litany of injuries the team has faced to key players.
Nobody is thinking about the schedule—several players were surprised to find out the Magic had played the most road games in the league so far. They play the games in front of them. Orlando is not thinking about this split or anything else.
They have worked hard to duck their heads and push through. The Magic have overcome a lot in the early part of the season.
"You are aware of it but you don't want to harp on it," coach Jamahl Mosley said after practice Friday. "You want to focus on keeping the group together and in the right space and studying the game and focusing on the game that's coming up next. That's what this group has done. They've been able to focus on the job at hand and keep perspective on where we are."
Orlando has had the right focus. When the schedule came out in August, everyone understood the first quarter would be difficult because of the heavy road trips. The injuries only added to that.
The December stretch that includes this homestand looked tough on paper too. Just because Orlando is home does not mean the team is about to stack up wins left and right. There are still challenges.
But things are more difficult without practice time. Friday marked the Magic's first practice since Nov. 30 in New York. It was their first practice at the AdventHealth Training Center since the season began (they have regular shootarounds and practiced some while on the road).
The last two days felt like training camp in some regard. Multiple days to get time in the gym and improve is something the team needs. Things slip without time to work in the gym. That is tougher to do on the road and even tougher to do when games run up against each other.
Even if things are slipping some without significant practice time, the Magic have still persevered. That is a credit to the team. This should all be a good sign of the Magic's long-term prospects.
"This is a tough group," Caldwell-Pope said after practice Saturday. "Players in and out throughout the season. For us, it's our standard that we hold each other accountable for and have that next man up mentality. We've missed some guys, but right now it's the next man up. We have to do it as a team and continue to play together."
The Magic needed this time off to reset. And everyone will be curious how the team looks in these next two games. As the countdown to Banchero's return begins, the Magic still want to win. And they proved they can.
With some fine tuning, the Magic should be better prepared to handle this period without their star players. They certainly need it with the competition they are facing.
More than anything, Orlando needs to take a breath. It was a hectic and busy start to the season. The Magic knew it would be. And this week presented an opportunity to take a necessary breath and reset.