NBA Power Rankings midseason reset: Milwaukee Bucks who we thought they’d be

Last week: Beat Atlanta 135-126, beat Detroit 116-112 (OT)

This week: Friday vs. Dallas

At No. 15 in the latest version of the NBA Power Rankings, the Orlando Magic are marginally better than their preseason spot at No. 16 despite being just one of three teams with a non-garbage time effective field goal percentage worse than 50 percent, according to Cleaning the Glass. When you’re in a group with the Knicks and Warriors this season, that may not be good.

Orlando has 27 games to go and has the 28th-ranked remaining schedule according to Tankathon with a combined winning percentage of just .464.

Home (13): Feb. 21 Dallas, Feb. 28 Minnesota, March 2 Portland, March 12 Chicago, March 15 Charlotte, March 19 Cleveland, March 21 Sacramento, March 25 Indiana, March 27 Brooklyn, March 29 New Orleans, April 1 Charlotte, April 10 Boston, April 15 Toronto
Away (14): Feb. 24 at Brooklyn, Feb. 26 at Atlanta, Feb. 29 at San Antonio, March 4 at Miami, March 6 at Minnesota, March 8 at Houston, March 10 at Memphis, March 17 at Detroit, March 23 at Brooklyn, April 3 at Boston, April 5 at Philadelphia, April 8 at New York, April 11 at Indiana, April 13 at Chicago

The Magic are three games ahead of ninth-place Washington fro the last playoff spot in the East and trail seventh-place Brooklyn by just two games. Orlando is up 1-0 on the Nets in the season series with three meetings still remaining.

Game of the first half: Nikola Vucevic nearly couldn’t miss while leading the Magic to a 125-121 win over the Wizards on Nov. 17. Vucevic went for 30 points, 17 rebounds and six assists in 33 minutes while hitting 11-of-14 from the floor and 3-of-4 from long range. He had seven points and four big offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter as Orlando hung on down the stretch.

Last week: Won at Indiana 106-105, beat Toronto 101-91

This week: Thursday at Philadelphia, Saturday at Charlotte

While a sub-.500 first half may not have been what the Brooklyn Nets fan base expected after a splashy offseason, they are just one spot above their No. 15 spot in the preseason NBA Power Rankings. While we knew Kevin Durant likely wouldn’t play, however, Kyrie Irving missing 33 games (and potentially counting) was not expected.

Brooklyn still has 29 game on its schedule — tied for the most in the NBA –and with a combined winning percentage of .499, that slate is the 17th most-difficult remaining schedule in the NBA according to Tankathon.

Home (13): Feb. 24 Orlando, March 4 Memphis, March 6 San Antonio, March 8 Chicago, March 18 Washington, March 21 Boston, March 23 Orlando, March 25 Clippers, March 28 Cleveland, March 30 Portland, April 1 Detroit, April 5 Dallas, April 15 Milwaukee
Away (16): Feb. 20 at Philadelphia, Feb. 22 at Charlotte, Feb. 26 at Washington, Feb. 28 at Atlanta, Feb. 29 at Miami, March 3 at Boston, March 10 at Lakers, March 12 at Golden State, March 13 at Clippers, March 15 at Sacramento, March 27 at Orlando, April 3 at Indiana, April 7 at Oklahoma City, April 9 at Milwaukee, April 11 at Chicago, April 13 at Cleveland

The Nets are six games behind Indiana for sixth place in the East, two games clear of the eighth-place Magic.

Game of the first half: While Kyrie Irving hasn’t been healthy for much of the first half, he’s put up some spectacular performances when he has been. None was better than what he did in a 133-118 win at Barclays Center over the Bulls on Jan. 31. Irving hung up 54 points on just 23 shots, hitting 19-of-23 overall.

He was 7-for-9 from downtown, hit 9-of-10 from the line and also had five rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes of action.