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Orlando Magic: 3 reasons they may be cursed

By Luke Duffy

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA - AUGUST 02: Jonathan Isaac #1 of the Orlando Magic is helped off the court in a wheelchair after an injury against the Sacramento Kings in the second half of a NBA basketball game at HP Field House at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 2, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kim Klement-Pool/Getty Images)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA - AUGUST 02: Jonathan Isaac #1 of the Orlando Magic is helped off the court in a wheelchair after an injury against the Sacramento Kings in the second half of a NBA basketball game at HP Field House at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 2, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kim Klement-Pool/Getty Images) /
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Miami Heat
Orlando Magic (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/GettyImages) /

2. The Miami Heat

Those pesky Miami Heat, always one step ahead of the Magic, and up to now, it has shown. They arrived in the league one year before the Magic, and play in a more desirable part of Florida to live. As a result of this, and the genius hiring of Pat Riley, getting free agents to come and play there has never been a problem.

The Heat won their first championship in 2006. Their starting center? That would be O’Neal. If that wasn’t painful enough, and it was, their rapid ascension despite only having a year head start on the Magic, and nowhere near as much draft luck, was tough to watch. The Heat came from 0-2 down to beat the Dallas Mavericks.

At that point, in 2006, the most memorable Magic playoff moment was probably Nick Anderson’s missed free-throws nine years prior, in the 1995 finals. A sequence of events so unlucky that the natural conclusion would be to think that they may be cursed. Make no mistake either, curses have come in all manner of wacky varieties in the past too. There was also, this.

But no, the noisy neighbors weren’t done there. In 2010, with the Magic coming off a finals appearance in 2009 and looking as close to the holy grail as ever before, the Heat managed to nab LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play alongside their own superstar in Dwyane Wade. Right away the Magic’s path back to the finals was blocked, indeed so too was the chance at divisional glory.

The Heat would go on to win two titles, and make four straight finals. Howard was gone in 2012, and things really did get ugly. There was that brief break in the clouds when it looked like perhaps the balance of power was swinging back towards Orlando, but that proved to be short-lived.

The Heat made the Finals again last year, and in Jimmy Butler they have a star who is in the perfect environment for him. The Magic whiffed on some lottery picks in the past (Mario Hezonja, Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo), and we’ll come to their current youngsters shortly. The Heat on the other hand have selected Tyler Herro, Kendrick Nunn, Duncan Robinson and Bam Adebayo. Maybe the Heat aren’t the reason the Magic are cursed, but they’re always on hand to make it worse.

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