It is only November. The Playoffs are a long way away. We are not even a quarter of the way through the season. It feels impossibly early to think about the standings or the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
The Orlando Magic are probably worried about bigger things themselves. They are still learning to play without Paolo Banchero. The playoffs are ever present but not their first priority. They want to win and find their path.
The two concerns collided in Wednesday’s 94-90 win over the Indiana Pacers. Because even though it is just Nov. 14, the playoffs are ever-present.
That was supposed to be one of the lessons from last year’s team and last year’s run. Every game mattered no matter at what point in the season. They all counted the same.
After all, the Magic made the Playoffs last year and earned the 5-seed because they won the tiebreaker over the Indiana Pacers and won the Southeast Division. Everything mattered in the end.
And that is what makes Wednesday’s win feel much more significant.
Orlando and Indiana have faced each other three times in the season’s first month. Entering Wednesday’s game, the two teams split the first two meetings. Winning Wednesday would give one team a leg up before their final match takes place in the penultimate game of the season for each team in Indianapolis in April.
How everyone figures it, the Magic and Pacers would be locked in another Playoff duel deep into the season. The two up-and-coming young teams have staked a place as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
The team that can win the season series may have a leg up when the season ends. The Magic assured themselves they could not lose the season series thanks to one of their best defensive efforts of the season to date.
Every little thing matters.
It mattered too then that Orlando found a way to win this game. The Magic are still looking for the confidence they can win since Paolo Banchero’s injury. They had feasted on some teams with low expectations — the New Orleans Pelicans, Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets. The Pacers were the first team at .500 they had faced on this homestand. And even Indiana was undermanned.
But the Pacers still had Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam. They still had their stars. And they still had to fight to get this win.
On the second night of a back-to-back, the Magic trailed by 12 points and were struggling to slow down the Pacers early. But they locked in defensively, holding Indiana to 18 points in the fourth quarter to secure the win.
The Magic struggled to score themselves and needed every inch of their defense, including holding Indiana without a point for the first 4.5 minutes of the fourth quarter. That alone was enough to flip the game in the Magic’s favor, helping them go from a four-point deficit to a six-point lead that eventually ballooned to 12.
The win itself was not only a boost to their future playoff hopes, but also a boost to the team’s immediate confidence that they can win without Banchero.
In the short-term then, the Magic’s win brought them to 7-6 and extended their win streak to four games. Orlando is sitting in third in the lackluster Eastern Conference. That is where Orlando hopes to be in the standings at the end of the season.
For now, the Magic proved they can still hang there for the time being. They also locked up an easier path should they need it when they return to Indianapolis in the spring.
