This is an interesting matchup on the big Wednesday night card despite the fact that we're looking at two mediocre teams. You can't get much more mediocre than the Spurs at 16-15 and the Magic at 14-15. For a very long time, the Spurs were something special in the NBA. They're not anymore, but as long as Gregg Popovich is coaching them, they'll always be respected. Respect, however, is a term the Orlando Magic are not familiar with. Yes, they're respected by many teams they've tangled with so far this season, but when it comes to NBA fans and the media, I don't think any team in the league receives less attention than these guys.
The Magic just returned to Orlando from a 5-day 4-night all expenses paid trip to Mexico City where they played a couple of games in front of more than 20,000 people each night, many of whom were rooting for the Magic's opponents, the Bulls and the Jazz. The Magic defeated them both to lift themselves within a game of .500. Prior to that the Magic had quietly been playing very well at home, and that's what I want to look at first.
Early on in the season, the Magic suffered a couple of humiliating home losses, getting shredded by the Hornets 120-88 and then two weeks later by the Clippers 120-95. They stood at 4-7 and 2-5 at home when they hosted the Wizards on November 9th. The Magic won 117-108. The following week, they scored their biggest home win of the season to date, beating the Sixers 111-106 as 5.5-point home dogs. Three days later, they topped themselves, dominating the Lakers 130-117. The Magic kept the good times going with a 131-117 home win over the Knicks. The homestand ended on a disappointing note, however, when the Raptors came to town and barely escaped with a 93-91 win, winning the game on a tie-breaking shot with less than one second left. The Magic covered easily, though, as 7-point home dogs.
Following a 6-game road trip, the Magic returned to Orlando on December 5th to face Denver, who were on a 6-game winning streak. The game proved to be a struggle for the Nuggets but they pulled it out in overtime, 124-118, to keep their streak going. After the game, Jamal Murray, who led the Nuggets with 31 points, said "We didn't play our best, but they played really good. They had a great game, and they're a really underrated team, especially at home."
Two days later, the Magic finally had a bad game at home when they got drilled by the Pacers 112-90. Tonight will be their first home game at Amway Center since that poor effort.
The Spurs just concluded a successful 5-1 homestand, but prior to that they'd dumped 9 of their last 11 on the road. Among all those losses were some truly gruesome performances, losing by 34 in Utah, by 39 in Minnesota, and they even lost by 20 in Phoenix just two weeks after having won by 30 in Phoenix. Weird, right? So even though the Spurs have been playing well of late, do they, with their crappy 4-10 road record, deserve to be pick 'em in Orlando against this Magic team that's looked very impressive in 8 of their last 9 home games? I say they don't.
A couple more things. The Magic visited the Spurs down in San Antonio a month and a half ago and humiliated them. The Magic led by 10 at the end of one, by 9 at the half, and then it started to get ugly. The Magic built their lead to 105-79 with nine minutes left before the Spurs began a comeback that was too little, too late. The Magic won 117-110. Less than two weeks into last season, the Magic blew the Spurs out in Orlando 114-87. Five months later, the Spurs returned the favor in Texas, winning 108-72. The season before that, the Magic pulled a 95-83 upset in San Antonio, but later in the season the Spurs got revenge with a crushing 107-79 win at the Amway Center. This little recent pattern of exchanging blowout wins had me thinking that maybe it's the Spurs turn to embarrass the Magic. After thinking it over, I decided "No, it isn't." I think the Magic are aware of recent meetings with the Spurs and proof of this is them talking about finally sweeping the Spurs in the season series. This hasn't happened since the last time the Magic made it to the Finals in the 2008-09 season.
Another thing that had me hesitating on this call is wondering if the Spurs, well aware that they were horrible on the road prior to the 5-1 homestand, might be focused on turning things around on the road. But then I looked at their schedule and saw that they aren't beginning a road trip here. They're playing this lone game in central Florida and then heading right back home to host the T-Wolves on Friday, a team that dealt them their worst loss of the season (128-89) three weeks ago. Hmm...
Lastly, back to the Magic. As I mentioned at the beginning of this writeup, they're returning home one game under .500. I think we can all agree that teams are usually extra motivated to win when they have a chance to shed their losing record, especially when they feel that they're better than what their record says they are. Following the wins in Mexico, where they held the Bulls to 91 and the Jazz to 89, Magic forward Jonathan Isaac said "I think it's been like that a couple times this year - more than just these last two games - where our defense helped us stick around while our offense was struggling. Absolutely, I think we've done a great job defensively and there's still so much room for improvement."
Sounds to me like at least some of the Magic players believe they're better than what their record says they are. Those wins in Mexico, incidentally, counted as home games for the Magic, who sacrificed a pair of Amway Center dates to "host" the games at Arena Ciudad de Mexico. The two wins brought their home record to 8-8, so not only do the Magic have an opportunity tonight to ditch their 14-15 losing record, they can also gain a winning record at home, and I think they deserve one.
I haven't placed a bet yet, so if anyone has any supporting or counter arguments, let's hear them. Chances are very good, though, that I'll be backing this overlooked Orlando team when they take the floor tonight against these old nag Spurs.
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