NEW YORK — Steve Clifford knows the numbers. Orlando’s head coach knows his group is the second-best defensive team in the NBA behind Milwaukee since Jan. 1. He knows the Magic play their best basketball when they crash the boards and defend for 48 minutes.
Here come the Magic — and they’re ready to end their playoff drought
Orlando is the third-hottest team in the NBA, and a come-from-behind win over Golden State punctuates their legitimacy as a playoff threat.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
He knows that’s what they need to do to make the playoffs, and he knows exactly how wild the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff race is.
“Look there’s six of us for three spots,” he says before Orlando’s disappointing loss in New York. “Three teams are gonna play their way in, three teams are not. This league is really about making the playoffs, but to make it for us, you never know what’s gonna happen once you make it.
“You know, a sprained ankle away, any series can change.”
Orlando wouldn’t know anything about a series. The Magic haven’t made the playoffs since 2012, and Clifford is the fifth head coach since that run. They are riding the third-longest active playoff drought behind Phoenix and Sacramento. Orlando’s rebuild has lasted an NBA life cycle.
But this season, the Magic are fighting for that to change. Orlando has won nine of its last 12 games. Only Milwaukee and Indiana are hotter since Jan. 31. Their latest victory, a convincing win over the presumptive NBA champion Golden State Warriors, punctuates Orlando’s purpose:
In a league where everyone is either gunning for a championship or tanking for Zion Williamson, the Magic are ecstatic to be in the playoff picture. That’s what Clifford defines as success for this season.
“We have a chance. We’re playing well,” Clifford said. “Listen — now it would be disappointing to me [if we didn’t make the playoffs]. We’re right there.”
D.J. Augustin knows this team has had its rough patches this season. In fact, he feels they lost a ton of games they shouldn’t have, games that, had they won, they would be well established in the playoff race by now.
But as a veteran in the Magic locker room, he knows this is how the NBA works. Not everything goes as planned, or as expected. That’s been the key for Orlando’s success: being resilient in the face of adversity. Because of that, the things the Magic failed to do at the beginning of the season are beginning to click at the right time.
“We’re coming together as a team,” Augustin told SB Nation before Orlando’s loss to New York. “I think everybody understands and we’re all on the same page. In order for us to make the playoffs, we have to come together and play defense.
“I think that’s what it’s coming down to, our mindset and playing hard every single night trying to win.”
Orlando is definitely trying to win. Tanking is not an option, not with the talent on this roster.
Aside from the Warriors, the Magic have beaten the Raptors by 15, the Hornets by 28, and have secured wins against the Bucks, Wolves, Nets, and Pacers during their hot streak. If the playoffs began today, Orlando would be the eighth seed, dancing with Milwaukee in the first round of the playoffs.
The Magic are winning games for a variety of reasons. Nikola Vucevic was finally voted an all-star. He’s been one of the most skilled big men in the league, and this season has been the best of his career. Aaron Gordon is averaging more assists now than ever before. Terrence Ross has been a spark plug off the bench. And Jonathan Isaac has taken strides across the board from Year 1 to Year 2.
Timofey Mozgov has been out with an injury, but from his vantage point, something is happening.
“We look connected now on both ends,” he says. “We know every game is important because we actually are fighting for the playoffs.”
The Magic are ready for this playoff drought to end. Orlando bounced back from a tough 5-11 stretch in December to win nine of their last 13 in January and February. And after falling down 11 at home to the Warriors on Friday, they bounced back to beat the defending champions at home.
The Magic will have to compete against Miami, Charlotte, Detroit, Brooklyn, and possibly Washington for one of the three attainable playoffs spots out East. But resilience has been the name of the game for the Orlando team this year.
“We’ve just kept fighting through it all this season,” Augustin said. “No matter if we lost some, we still knew we had to fight to the end. That’s what we’re trying to do now.”
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