Season opener offers unique opportunity for Magic to put national media on notice

The Orlando Magic are on the rise.

That movement to a higher position combined with the fact that the team surpassed any predictions placed on them last season has fans in Central Florida sitting on pins and needles. They want to see just what this team can be and how many games it can win with the additions made this offseason. They also want to see improvement or 'The Jump' from key players like Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, and Cole Anthony. But most importantly, they want to see them win their first game.

That game will take place in Miami.

The game is an opportunity for the team to show just how much it has improved since their seven-game series against Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Miami Heat are a team that is more nationally known than the Magic, and the game presents a unique opportunity this year. These are the type of teams the Magic need to show their dominance over to gain more national attention. If the Magic beat the brakes off of the Heat (like they did to the Rockets in their first game last year) the team will get the attention they deserve.

A win in the season opener is the first step to putting the Magic in the national spotlight

The fact that this game will be played in Miami makes it even more intriguing. It is an opportunity for this new Magic team to show how they match up against a legit playoff team featuring some of the better players in the league with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.

Miami has always been stout on their home floor and went 27-14 at home last year. If the Magic can somehow go into Miami, clamp them down defensively, and make some shots, it could possibly get more eyeballs on them going forward. Although the Magic lost their season series to the Heat 3-1 last season, they finished the year with a better record than the Heat.

That alone should make the players on the Magic's roster want to beat them in their first matchup. The fact that the Heat beat the Magic twice before they were able to beat them should motivate them to be the best versions of themselves against Miami. The Magic weren't able to beat the Heat until January 21, when they destroyed the Heat 105-87. That is the type of dominant performance that they need to have in the season opener.

In that win, all five starters for the Magic left the game with double figures. Jalen Suggs scored 11 points, Markelle Fultz added 12 to the mix, Franz Wagner put up 19 points, Wendell Carter Jr. dropped 17 points, and Paolo Banchero led the group with 20 points.

The Magic will get immediate attention from the national media if they are able to pull off a dominant victory like that in the season opener. It will be tough because the game will be played in Miami, and they are very good on their home court. Plus, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo probably feel like they left meat on the bone from their title run and Finals loss against the Denver Nuggets a couple of years ago. I would imagine they feel like they have something to prove going forward.

But so do the Magic, the fact that they aren't receiving the proper national coverage while having a player on their roster who accomplished things only LeBron James and other Hall of Fame players have done as well. But a win against a nationally known team such as the Jimmy-Bulter-led Miami Heat will put them right where they want to be.

The Magic schedule has five nationally televised games on ESPN and TNT. It is time for Orlando to not only prove that they deserve those games but also show that they should have more next season.