The 2018-19 season surpassed all expectations for the Orlando Magic. Here are the top 10 moments from what was a memorable campaign.
The Orlando Magic entered the 2018-19 NBA season with a new head coach in Steve Clifford, zero recognized All-Stars on their roster and a whole heap of questions surrounding their young core and how they would be able to fit together.
Not many picked them to make much noise, and when they were 11 games under .500 at the turn of the year, that prediction looked to be the correct one. Instead the Magic went on one of the more memorable runs in recent seasons, making their way back to the postseason for the first time in seven seasons as the 7-seed.
Although they eventually fell to the Toronto Raptors five games in the first round, simply getting there was bonus territory after a season in which they went 42-40. Clifford did a great job, the organization had its All-Star in Nikola Vucevic and the pieces fit together a lot better than at any stage in their rebuild up to that point.
As such, picking the 10 best moments of the campaign was tough, with some honorable mentions having to be added in below. Given that it would’ve been hard to put together 10 good moments from the previous six seasons combined, it is clear the Magic are trending in the right direction. Let’s take a look at what made the list.
Honorable mentions
- Khem Birch‘s defensive masterclass after Mohamed Bamba went down with injury
- The play of Michael Carter-Williams during both his 10-day contracts