There’s only 81 more days until opening night in the NBA. The Orlando Magic will open their 2013-14 campaign at the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 29, a game in which second-overall draft pick Victor Oladipo will be brought back to his college stomping grounds.
The full NBA schedule was released Tuesday night. For now, it looks like only local Magic fans will be able to enjoy the majority of the team’s games on TV, as they only have four being broadcast nationally, three of those on NBA-TV. This is not surprising considering the fact that they will be one of the three worst teams in the league, without question.
Here’s a preview of some of the biggest games the Magic have next season.
Nov. 1- Home opener against the New Orleans Pelicans
This will be the first chance for the Magic faithful to see just how much Tobias Harris, Andrew Nicholson and Maurice Harkless have improved.
Oladipo is going to have a primary responsibility to defend either Jrue Holiday and Eric Gordon, but also Tyreke Evans at times as well.
Ryan Anderson also makes his return to Orlando, as he was traded to New Orleans last offseason.
March 5- Superman returns to Orlando
Dwight Howard and his new teammates in Houston will be invading Disney World, as this will be Howard’s second return to Orlando since leaving Orlando last summer.
Howard dominated the Magic in Orlando last season, so Nikola Vucevic, Glen Davis and Kyle O’Quinn will have their hands full once again.
Oladipo will draw another tough assignment as well, matching up against James Harden.
Nov. 20- The Champs come to town
LeBron James and the two-time defending champ Miami Heat travel to central Florida on Nov. 20. Anytime a team gets to face the defending champions, it is a matchup the players look forward to. This one will be no different.
The Magic actually played their in-state rival quite tough last season and in one of those games, Vucevic set a Magic record for most rebounds in a game with 29. It highlighted Miami’s weakness on the interior, but that weakness may have been strengthened with their recent signing of Greg Oden who if healthy, may drastically reduce Vucevic’s rebounding numbers this time around.
Apr. 4- Road game at Charlotte
The Magic only have eight games in the month of April and just like last season down the stretch they will be facing the Bobcats. With loaded talent in next year’s draft class, whoever loses this game may be better off than the winner, for draft positioning purposes.
It will be interesting to see how this game plays out and if it’s even a close one, and whether or not the starters play the key minutes to decide the outcome of the game.