Orlando Magic: 5 things that need to happen in February
By Luke Duffy
4. Enjoy the comforts of home
The Magic play seven games in front of their home crowd in the month of February. They have won only eight times there so far this season.
Back in 2012, the first year of their rebuild, they won 12 games at home despite going 20-62. Failure to get to this number again by season’s end would be a real negative.
In fact, between 2012 and now, they have won 90 out of a possible 226 home games. Despite this, the Magic have the league’s 14th-highest attendance this season.
The lowest that mark has been since the rebuild began is 23rd, but given how the team hasn’t sniffed the playoffs or had a star player since then, that is impressive — which is why they need to give these fans more to cheer about and turn the AmWay Center into a more difficult place for visiting teams to play.
It may not be about winning right now, so as to improve their draft position, but picking up victories over the visiting Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets this month would be nice.
By the end of February, they’ll only have 13 home games left in the season, and more losses and a brand of basketball that fails to excite could see attendance slip even more.