The standings are posted somewhere in the Orlando Magic practice facility. Everyone is at least tangentially aware of the narrow-mindedness and importance of each match.
Trying to keep up with them is a daily challenge. Something happens every night that changes the rankings. the victory of the Orlando Magic over the Utah Jazz Thursday put them in a virtual tie for fifth in the standings with the Philadelphia 76ers.
There’s a lot to keep track of. So it’s gotten to the point where Cole Anthony, someone who always seems to know what something means, isn’t going to bother checking them daily.
What would be the goal?
The only thing he seems certain of is that the Magic control much of their own destiny. Or at least, that’s the only thing they should worry about. Orlando has put itself in a position where if the team takes care of business and piles up wins, the playoff seeding will take care of itself.
“You can’t ignore it,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after the team’s penalty shootout Thursday. “At the end of the day, that’s why you break it down into segments. You don’t look at the whole process. You focus on what we need to do in each of our games unlike what other teams do. The more we can control our effort, energy and focus on the game plan, the better off we will be.
For them, looking at the rankings will not be productive. They will change constantly. What the team is focused on is playing to their standard – or even setting a standard for the playoffs – to play there. They know they must take care of their business to be successful and achieve their goals.
This is what awaits them. Orlando had the easiest schedule in terms of opponent winning percentage after the All-Star Break, entering this seven-game stretch against opponents with sub-.500 records. The Magic still have the easiest schedule it remains by opponent winning percentage with just three straight games remaining and 13 games at the Kia Center, where the team is 20-8.
All of this is to say that the team knows they control much of their own destiny. And the Magic know that if they take care of this thing, everything else will take care of itself. They just need to take care of these weak points in the schedule.
There are two important stretches for the Magic in this series that the Magic have taken care of so far in the season.
The first is their seven-game streak against teams with losing records that the team is among. The Orlando Magic are currently 3-1 in this stretch with three games remaining – Sunday against the Detroit Pistons, Tuesday against the Charlotte Hornets and Wednesday against the Washington Wizards.
Orlando will also play eight home games from March 17 to April 1, with “winnable” games against the Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers. All this before five of the last seven games took place on the road.
The Magic aren’t looking that far ahead of schedule, but they know this is the time they need to take care of business.
“I think we talked about it a lot, being able to respect your opponent, no matter who,” Mosley said after Thursday’s penalty shootout. “You can’t play against teams based on their record. You can be beaten by any team with any record. We are able to respect the opponent, the number one, and be able to to stick to the game plan when asked.”
The Magic did it. These are exactly the games they took care of – even beyond winning three of their last four and four of five since the All-Star Break.
Orlando is 19-6 against teams with a record below .500. And five of those losses came against the Atlanta Hawks (three) and two against the Brooklyn Nets.
Additionally, the Magic have a +6.7 net rating at the Kia Center, the sixth-best rating in the league. They have an offensive/defensive rating split of 116.7/109.7. Both scores are better than their season averages, as was to be expected.
The fact that so many of the remaining games are at home shows how important it is for the Magic to continue doing what they have been doing all season. This will inevitably push the team up in the standings. They don’t have to worry about what others are doing.
That’s the goal Magic is trying to bring to these games. They know they need to focus on their game plan and take care of their floors. They have to make teams uncomfortable — something that took them a little while to do in Thursday’s win over the Utah Jazz. It’s clearly not easy.
But if they do, everything else will fall into place.
The team has worked hard through tough times in their season to get to this part they can take advantage of. This is always how the schedule is set for them. That’s when they know they have to play their best basketball and they’re following that trend and enjoying it so far.
“I think as a unit we’ve had a lot of ups and a lot of downs,” Anthony said after Thursday’s penalty shootout. “I think we’ve done a great job of weathering the storm. We’ve had some guys here and some guys out. Some guys aren’t playing well, some guys are playing well. I think we’ve done a really good job work to weather this storm. I still think we haven’t played our best basketball yet.”
The Magic actually did it. Since Franz Wagner returned from his ankle injury, the Magic are 12-6. They have a net rating of +2.3 with an offensive rating of 115.3. The Magic still have a lot to improve on, but they are gaining momentum and are now playing some of their best basketball.
There will be challenges ahead and the Playoffs will be a whole different animal for this young team. Orlando prepares for everything.
Even though everyone is focused on the standings – and here they are entering the March 1 games: the Orlando Magic are one game behind the New York Knicks for fourth place, a few percentage points behind the Philadelphia 76ers for fifth place, tied with the Indiana Pacers for sixth place. and a half-game ahead of the Miami Heat for seventh place – this will change daily.
Orlando Magic needs to get their defensive fire back. dark. Following. Magic defensive fire 02/29/24
Orlando knows he controls his own destiny. These rankings may not matter. The Magic just need to keep winning.
