The Orlando Magic are 23-29, and 3.5 games behind the Chicago Bulls for the 8th seed in the Eastern conference. It’ll be an uphill battle to qualify for the postseason. Here’s the Orlando Sentinel with perspective:
Scott Skiles figures the Magic will have to win 20 of their final 30 games to qualify for the postseason — a difficult task because of the number of road games in March, the two remaining matchups against the Golden State Warriors and a remaining game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Magic believe the team is better off in the short term with newcomers Ersan Ilyasova and Brandon Jennings on the roster instead of Tobias Harris and Channing Frye, and that opinion likely is correct. But the Magic also have precious little time to integrate Ilyasova and Jennings into the team, although they are familiar with Skiles’ offensive and defensive schemes from their tenures in Milwaukee.
The stretch run will begin tonight, when the Magic host the Dallas Mavericks at Amway Center.
Playoff possibilities or not, I always like to see how a team looks after making roster moves, and for that reason alone it’s worth keeping up with the Magic these next few weeks.
