Orlando Magic: Will they make the 2019 NBA Playoffs?

With two-thirds of the NBA’s regular season complete and the Orlando Magic still in the mix, is this the season they return to the playoffs?

The NBA’s All-Star Weekend, the midseason showcase of the league as a whole, was both a blessing and a curse for the Orlando Magic. It was a positive, because center Nikola Vucevic was selected to play in the exhibition game for the first time.

Vucevic was also the first Magic player since Dwight Howard to be chosen, which felt poignant. It featured another big man closing the door on the past for good, all while doing his best to climb the list of franchise greats in the process.

It was a celebration of all Vucevic has managed to do in carrying this franchise for years, while also acknowledging that the organization as a whole have been improved this year. The drawback however, was with the timing of the festivities in Charlotte. Prior to the break, the Magic were one of the hottest teams in the league.

They had won seven of their last nine games going in, including notable victories over the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks. With the Magic not due to play again until this coming Friday, it remains to be seen if the break in action will have halted their progress.

While this run pushed the team back into the playoff picture, we are only now gearing up for the final stretch of regular games that will come to define the Magic’s season. Do they have enough quality throughout their roster to make the postseason, and how does their schedule match up against those around them fighting for the same spots in the Eastern Conference?

Internally at least, the Magic have a lot going for them right now. Vucevic’s exploits have been well documented, and if Karl-Anthony Towns, the franchise player of the Minnesota Timberwolves, is being referred to as a better version of Vucevic, then you know he is doing something right.

Beyond Vooch, however, there are others who have stepped up, helping the Magic to rally recently. No one fits this description better than second-year forward Jonathan Isaac, who took his first major step forward in January to lead Orlando to some much-needed wins. It would be unfair to expect Isaac to suddenly be the go-to guy, but his progress has been both encouraging and helpful.

Swingman Terrence Ross is having the best season of his career, and he comes off the bench nightly to act as a real spark for the second unit. Sometimes he is an incinerator, and can have games like the 32 points he put up in 31 minutes in a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this month. The 38.1 percent he is shooting from deep is higher than his career average to date (37.3 percent), and he has yet to miss a game either.

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Although both Vucevic and Ross are unrestricted free agents this summer and could walk for nothing, keeping them after the trade deadline ensures the Magic have a chance to reach the playoffs. In the long-term this may backfire, but the counterargument is that these young players need postseason experience.

Without Vucevic and Ross, they wouldn’t be chasing that goal now. It is also possible both players re-sign in Orlando, with Ross being a fan favorite who appears to enjoy playing there.

Some of these positive factors over the last five weeks wouldn’t have been possible if not for the injury to rookie Mohamed Bamba, and that in itself is interesting.

With Bamba lost for the foreseeable future due to a tibia stress fracture, head coach Steve Clifford no longer has to find minutes for him and can instead ride Vucevic as far as he can take them. It also solves the dilemma of trying to fit Isaac, Aaron Gordon and Bamba on the court together — for now, at least. Khem Birch deserves more run, and his defensive abilities are helping the team too.

All of this, and the organization still has a former first overall pick to add to the fold in Markelle Fultz. With everything clicking within the team at the right time, how well does the Magic’s schedule the rest of the way lend itself to a playoff appearance?

According to Tankathon, the Magic have the third-easiest remaining schedule in the league. There may be some debate surrounding this, but many of their tougher assignments have already been dealt with. More than that, the Magic actually won some of their more difficult games.

They swept the Los Angeles Lakers (although Kyle Kuzma appears to have a short memory regarding this), and have beaten the Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets. It is the perceived easier games, however, where the Magic have let themselves down with multiple losses after having been up by more than 20 points at one stage in the game.

There are going to be slip-ups over the final 23 games the Magic have on the docket; that’s just the nature of being a team in the position Orlando is in. But if you look at the remaining schedule, making the postseason does not seem out of the question.

What about those around them though? The Magic currently occupy the 10th spot in the East, and although they’re only half a game out of the 8-seed, they still need others to slip up in order to take their place. A prime target here is the Charlotte Hornets.

Currently sitting in seventh spot, they have the second-hardest remaining schedule, according to Tankathon. Although Kemba Walker is undoubtedly an All-Star, he does not have a lot of help around him to continue their push for the playoffs.

They have two four-game road trips still to come, with the second of those being a spin out West. Among those remaining games, they have to play the Golden State Warriors (twice), Rockets (twice), Raptors (twice), Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers. There are also two huge games against the playoff-chasing Detroit Pistons, as well as the Magic on the final day of the regular season.

The Hornets had long been a bogey team for the Magic, but they lifted that curse by hammering them by 38 points before the All-Star break. This snapped a 13-game win streak for Charlotte over Orlando. If any team is going to fall, and hard, it is the Hornets. This would be huge for the Magic’s chances, but neither the Pistons nor the Miami Heat can be ruled out either.

The Pistons, led by Blake Griffin, have looked a solid outfit for much of the season. In their last 10 meetings, however, they have beaten the Magic only four times — somewhat surprising given how disappointing the last few years have been in Orlando. It is unclear which version of the Heat will turn up for the rest of the campaign.

History does not dictate the future, but with the games against opponents like the Pistons sure to be crucial (an away game for the Magic), it is comforting to know they have had some level of success in this matchup in recent years.

It seems unlikely the Magic will get back over .500 by the end of the season. The hole they dug themselves earlier in the campaign looks to be too big to climb out of, but is there a number they should be aiming to get to that should get them into the playoffs, even with a losing record?

Worryingly, in the last three seasons the 8-seed has been at .500 or over. Since the start of the decade, five teams have been below .500 going into the postseason in the last playoff spot. One of those was the 76ers from the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season. They won 35 games, but spread out over a proper season, it is likely they would’ve picked up the six wins needed to go over .500 themselves.

Really then, it is unclear if the Magic will need to be at .500 or over to make the playoffs. It would appear to be the flip of a coin, although the sixth-placed Brooklyn Nets are only 30-29 themselves.. It is conceivable that the bottom two teams in the Eastern playoff picture could get in having lost more games than they won.

When added together with where the Orlando Magic are right now, this creates a lot of positive momentum behind their drive to get back to the playoffs. They’ve got the players, the favorable schedule and those around them have tough games to navigate. The Orlando Magic very well could make the playoffs for the first time since 2012.