Orlando Magic: 4 observations after first 4 games in 2018-19
By Luke Duffy
4. The defense looks good
It was spoken about at length before the season began, but this Orlando roster has a chance to be a top-10 defensive outfit and only improve in this area as the young core develops. This has turned out to be the case to begin the year, with the Magic currently sitting 11th in the league with a defensive rating of 106.8, per NBA.com.
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While this is a good start, it is clear they can and will get better as the season unfolds. They are also putting up this number despite getting nothing from starter Evan Fournier on this end (110.1) and starting Nikola Vucevic (111.3), who is known more for his offensive talent.
Rookie Mohamed Bamba, who has the potential to be the best defender in Orlando, hasn’t been unleashed properly (19.3 minutes per game) yet and is still raw in a lot of what he does.
Despite this, Orlando still has a defensive rating of 100.6 when he’s on the court. This would be the third-best mark in the entire league if applied to the Magic as a whole, and so you have to feel it is only a matter of time before Bamba sees more action.
Holding the Celtics under 100 points was another early season positive, with the Heat only reaching 101 points as well. Watch this end of the floor as the Magic continue to build their identity around their defense.