Top 10 games of the Orlando Magic's 2024 season

8. Jan. 15, 2024: Clutch MLK Day win

The Orlando Magic were still figuring out where they fit into the Eastern Conference pecking order when they rolled into New York for a Martin Luther King Day matinee at Madison Square Garden.

They were still getting healthy too.

Markelle Fultz had just worked his way back into the lineup, and Wendell Carter made his return to the lineup after missing five games. The Magic were starting to feel whole again. But they were still not all the way there. They still had to prove themselves.

And after two losses leading into this game—on the road in Miami and then in Oklahoma City on a tough back-to-back— the Magic still had a lot to prove.

Their game in New York was a tough one. It was a true grind, even with Jalen Brunson sitting out with an injury. Miles McBride came on for 20 points. The team still started Chuma Okeke who had a surprising 15 points after a flurry of first-quarter threes.

Paolo Banchero made just 9 of 19 shots. But he had the big shots down the stretch that mattered as he continued to add to his record as a clutch scorer.

Paolo Banchero made the shots that seemed to matter with a quick four points down the stretch and some good defense on Julius Randle to help the Magic steal the win on the road at Madison Square Garden.

With the team still dealing with the illness that affected them on their West Coast road trip a few weeks before, the team needed to gut out a major road victory. The Magic needed a sign of life.

To do it against a team that, at the time, felt like a future Playoff opponent and on the road and in a big game on the calendar, felt like a major victory. Winning it with late-game execution, this was one of the games that displayed the Magic’s maturity and that their hunt for the Playoffs was not just a young team idling.