Before the Orlando Magic began their media day back in late September, coach Jamahl Mosley addressed his team about their expectations. Nobody was hiding that day from what the team wanted to accomplish or what it would take to get there.
They openly said they wanted to earn homecourt advantage in the Playoffs after they went through a seven-game series where the home team won every game. By necessity that means the team expected to make the Playoffs. They were unafraid to speak about their Playoff ambitions.
Mosley said he would split the season into seven-game series. The goal would be to win as many seven-game series as possible. That does not make a playoff series in the regular season, but those bite-sized segments of an 82-game season would be a good way to check on the team’s progress and see where they needed to improve.
Those Playoffs seem like a long way away. But Mosley knew even at media day that they always need to be front of mind. His team needed to start preparing for the postseason and always have that goal in mind. The team needed that purpose.
The Playoffs are always on everyone’s minds.
They were on their mind this weekend as the Magic took on the Brooklyn Nets in a pair of games at the Barclays Center. All before the team prepares for a massive battle in their NBA Cup group play finale against the New York Knicks with the winner winning Group A – the Magic would advance as the wild card with a loss of 30 points or less.
The Magic are getting a small taste of what they will need for the Playoffs. It will take a lot of poise and versatility to play any way the game calls for.
Just take the weekend series with the Nets.
On Friday, the Magic forced turnovers and made 18 of 37 threes to blitz them 123-100. A late 3-point flurry in the second quarter gave them a lead they would not relinquish.
Sunday’s 100-92 win was the opposite. Orlando was caught making tons of mistakes and turnovers. The shots were not going in. And the Nets made the game an ugly, physical mess as their adjustment to the Magic’s free-wheeling offense.
That the Magic won their games against the Nets both ways speaks to the team’s poise through frustration and their ability to win games in different ways. Orlando’s defense was the one constant – it has been the one constant throughout the season – but the Magic adjusted to what the game called for.
That is something they know will become useful when the Playoffs begin. It is a trait they know they will need when the competition stiffens on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Nobody will confuse the Nets or a game in early December with the Playoffs. There will be a lot of fine-tuning and development to come throughout the season’s final three-quarters. But the Magic need every rep they can get to prepare for the Playoffs. They need to test that they have the poise and composure it will take to win in the postseason.
Orlando still has tougher challenges ahead of course. The team still has a lot to prove.
But the Playoffs are always in the back of their mind. And this weekend was a good example of how they are leaning back on their experience, maturity and poise as they will need to in the postseason.
