The Orlando Magic have fought their way back into postseason contention. Here are three keys to actually making the 2019 NBA Playoffs.
The Orlando Magic are finishing February as one of the form teams in the NBA. Their record of 28-34 doesn’t look great on paper, but it is still good for ninth place in the Eastern Conference as things stand.
They have gone 7-3 over their last 10 games, and even though they returned from the All-Star break with a heartbreaking one-point home loss to the Chicago Bulls, they followed this up by going to Canada and beating a Toronto Raptors outfit that was sitting Kawhi Leonard.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep the winning run going, throwing one away against the New York Knicks on Tuesday night. Such is the life of a Magic fan right now, losing these winnable games. The exhibition game hasn’t completely derailed the momentum they had built before the break though, as Orlando has only lost three times so far in the month of February.
There have been many different factors that have powered the Magic’s surge of late. The influence of Terrence Ross has been one, while the injury to rookie Mohamed Bamba it could be argued, is another. If they are going to go all the way to the playoffs for the first time in the post-Dwight Howard era, however, they are going to need more to get there.
The following are the three big keys to making the postseason, and if the Magic can achieve all of these, then playing into late April will be assured. Regardless though, the fact that the organization is in this position at all is proof that it’s finally going in the right direction.