Top 10 games of the Orlando Magic's 2024 season
6. Feb. 2, 2024: Comeback Kids
38. Magic Timberwolves Final 02.02.24. 106. 86. Final. 108
An 82-game season is a long one. There are going to be bad losses and big wins. Teams will see all types of wins over the course of a season. There are a lot of ups and downs to ride.
No kind of win is bigger or makes a team feel more invincible than the comeback win. To be on the brink of destruction and rally to steal a victory. Nothing is more invigorating.
The Magic had two marquee comeback wins. Both felt bigger than they probably were at the moment. Both helped create a sense of destiny about this team.
The bigger one of those two came in February when the Orlando Magic rallied from a 17-point first-half deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road.
It was an odd game. But it had one defining feature: The Magic trotted out their big lineup for the first time.
Jonathan Isaac played the entire fourth quarter, finishing the game alongside the Magic's usual starting four with Wendell Carter at center. It was the Magic beginning to unleash their big lineup and maximize the size their roster always seemed to promise.
More than that, the win gave the Magic that feeling of invincibility. They went on the road against one of the best teams in the league and took the game from the Wolves. Anthony Edwards may have been slowed by an injury suffered in the second quarter, but he returned, and Orlando went out and won the game.
It was the same thing the team did in March when they erased a 20-point deficit to defeat the Washington Wizards, 119-109. So much of that started with Paolo Banchero, who had 25 points in the game. But Franz Wagner had 28 to lead the team, and Jalen Suggs added 19 as the Magic came like a storm to surpass the Wizards and pull away for the win.
Orlando seemed invincible in those wins. More than that, they had a true belief in what they could do and accomplish. This belief is critical to a team's playoff hopes.