Orlando Magic: 4 keys to a better second road trip

3. Use their rotation players more

Nobody is really talking about it, but the Magic now have their own kind of Big Three in Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier.

Each of these guys is now able to drag the team back into a game on any given night, and when more than one of them are rolling, the Magic are in a good position to win the game.

Beyond that, however, there is more depth to this roster than we have seen since they were a playoff lock in the early years of this decade.

Whether it’s Jonathon Simmons doing his best Sixth Man of the Year impression, or going three-deep at the point guard position, the Magic have a component team top to bottom now.

This is why, when the legs start to get heavier on these trips, they should turn to the lesser-used players on their team.

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Big man Marreese Speights is a great example of this, and he should be utilized more by the team during these games.

He even gave a great audition to pick up more minutes away from home recently. With rookie Jonathan Isaac going down with an ankle injury, the playing time of Speights increased.

The result? He came off the bench to score 10 points in 10 minutes, in an eventual loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in which Speights would play 16 minutes overall.

Monday night against the Indiana Pacers, Speights saw extended first half minutes, scoring six points in about 45 seconds.

It might not seem like much, but on nights when the starting guys are struggling or tired, head coach Frank Vogel needs to believe that his veteran guys can get them out of a hole.

Whether it is Speights or the rarely used Arron Afflalo, the depth now exists to continue playing at a high pace to wear opponents down. The Magic should use it.