Orlando Magic Podcast – Ep. 188 – “The Last Stand“

Orlando Magic Podcast – Ep. 188 – “The Last Stand“

Live from Orlando Florida you’re listening to the Orlando Magic HQ podcast the voice of magic fans join us every week for a unique fan perspective on all of the latest Magic news and updates the show starts now what’s up magic fans welcome back to another episode of the Orlando Magic HQ

Podcast brought to you by the believe podcast Network and online where your host Al myself Anthony today is Sunday night March 3rd the magic just got done laying the smack it down on the Detroit Pistons magic have been balling ladies and gentlemen we had an amazing awesome

Awesome February um and we we not only it it was exciting because the last game we we match our total games one from last season and now being the Pistons we’re now a above that breaking it so uh the man the the magic are surprising more and more people shout out to all

The national media out there that didn’t think the magic would going to be in this position and the magic are now at a point where every game is mattering more and more and more because as we look forward to the rest of the season the magic where we’re not trying to be in

That playin tournament every game matters every single game we are on the heels of the Philadelphia Center 76ers New York Knicks we do not want to be in that playing tournament if we don’t have to be we have a great great great opportunity to be able just to make it

Into the playoffs um Al what’s going on you were at that game today how you feeling bro doing good man doing good I think it was the third fourth largest crowd in in mway uh I’m sorry Kia I say mway Kia Center hisory almost broke 20K 20K dude onay night 19 600 something

Like that around there something like that on a Sunday night against the Pistons just shows you how hungry the city is for playoff basketball and I mean we’re what a month and a half away from that so uh it’s exciting to see the city embrace the team so much um so man

It was great yeah so in today’s episode we we’re going to talk a little bit more about our current standings and our position um uh where where with where we’re at with the Orlando Magic um Jonathan Isaac had a really really uh big scare we’ll talk a little bit about

That and then the kind of Coach Mo’s kind of switching it up a little bit Gary Harris gets back into the starting lineup um and the magic are playing really really good basketball so before we get into all of that just a quick word from our sponsors bet online bet

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Episode um we do have a news sponsor cut which is a social betting app um which is pretty cool because normally if you’re doing any type of sports wagering sports betting um you’re either doing it with hard rock or it’s it’s one of those apps um this is a different fundamental

Where you’re able to do peer-to-peer which is pretty dope um so if you love betting with your friends you can now organize it a bit by utilizing this app you can bet on anything Sports uh who’s going to win tonight’s game who’s going to win the Eastern Conference you know

Championship whatever it is that you want to bet on you’re able to do it um again it’s peer-to-peer social Bing platform that’s legal and 40 Plus St cut has customizable odds tracking capabilities an entire social network with group chats user profiles and rewards all payments and no need for

Themo use our promo code believe magic for a 10% welcome deposit bonus and don’t forget the pr don’t forget that promo code 10% off cut put your money where your mouth is and Allan I we actually did it right before the episode um we we figured we we’ll take a little

Break on the Orlando Magic Talk um and and you know kind of talk about who we think are going to be or who will be coming out of the East as the Eastern Conference um winners realistically um I had my money on Boston Celtics and I’m pretty much saying it because they just

Put a stomping on the Golden State Warriors um and Al I think you you were saying that you re you feel strongly that it’s going to be the Bucks yeah man I I just don’t trust the Celtics I know they look great today against Golden State uh but I feel like they always

Look great during the season I also don’t trust uh porzingis staying healthy through the playoffs so I think that for me personally I think the bugs with Janice Dame they’re getting hot already they’re looking really good in the East I think they’ll get stronger and stronger with the more chemistry

They build so I really feel a seven game series if it comes down to Boston and Milwaukee I think they got the edge now let me also say I wish I could say the magic but we’re betting money here so I W Milwaukee yeah man you can’t you can’t

Be biased when it comes to to as much as I love my home team um you know you want to know who I don’t trust I don’t trust Doc Rivers they are a cluster out in Milwaukee and as much as you want to put all your um you know all all your money

On on Dame and and Giannis they’re they’re they’re looking a little funky out there so I if I if I had to look at the two I man I think Boston they’re they’re looking they’re looking all right now I will say that if something happens and it align and Boston ends up

At some point in time facing the magic I feel like we got their I feel like we got their number man because there’s this is the awesome thing right um and I I’m going to transition a little bit outside of our debate on Boston versus um Milwaukee but um what’s

What’s awesome about the magic is I I feel like we’re we’re the Wild Card like I really really do to where we’re a team that people still haven’t fully figured out it’s easy to point out to about the magic that oh we we can’t shoot like we’re

Where we that’s that’s a a key fundamental lack of the Orlando Magic but we have so many different ways that we’re able to really beat a team from our size from our length um from our our play from fron and Paulo um our our bench unit we’re a really deep team I

Think that teams have to look at the magic now differently than they’ve done before obviously we’re winning we’re a different team but there’s way more respect Factor because we can play and we can hoop the best best of them and I think if you look at a team like Boston

If you look at a team like you know Indiana New York Milwaukee I I think anyone looks at the magic and say man that’s not that’s not really team that I I would want to go against and granted we might be biased um but I think that

Our size will end up scaring a lot of people um but again this is this is why I I feel like we one of the major issues with the magic have always been injuries and and not being healthy and this is why the magic need to stay out of the

Playing tournament if we can make it into the playoffs straight through this will allow for our guys to rest just a little bit more um and this will allow for us to to kind of break break barriers man nobody was thinking about us last season so we got we got a real

Opportunity right now yeah so like how you said all that just to say that if we F the face the Celtics you’re rooting for the magic so you’re going to go against your bet which I’m I’m all for so uh again Milwaukee that’s where my my money’s

At yeah my my money and my heart are two completely different things I hear you man trust me that’s what I’m saying like I know we’re doing this for fun and we’re trying the the new app we’re doing this but I’m like man it hurts not to say the magic going

To win but I’m like hey I’m being realistic and I’m trying to win this money I got I got Milwaukee on it but as you guys all know realistically deep down magic all the way right yeah so it it’s we we’ve missed so obviously we didn’t record on Thursday

And uh we we have a few games to to discuss right we got the magic win against Detroit Pistons 112 to 109 where Paulo hit the game-winning shots and gets emotional in the post game which was awesome to see I wanted to touch base on that really quick before we hit

On the other games this is a game that afterwards probably hit a big game-winning shot didn’t play a great basketball game was feeling under the weather didn’t even know if he was going to be able to go or not what are your thoughts on Paulo crying during the postes or getting

Emotional for me man I actually loved it I loveed the fact that he shows that emotion just because he had a rough stretch after the allstar break like he he was dealing with an illness it was not really disclos what it was but he struggled to shoot the ball for a few

Games including the Detroit game and yet mostly told him on the bench before the Big Shot hey I’m coming to you and I want you to take this shot showing that confidence not only the team has in him but the head coach has in him and then

He hits the shot it’s an N1 crazy shot he hits the free throw we win the game I mean as a young kid to to be put again that pressure on you for you to deliver kind of again coming off the All-Star Game there’s so many emotions involved

There and I love it man I mean jayen sucks cry ear in in the season when they lost to the Lakers like I’m I’m loving the fact that our team is full of guys that are embracing this new pressure that’s been put on them because trust me

All of us as fans we don’t think of them anymore as a playing team we don’t think of them as a team that should be just barely getting to the playing now it’s like you should be getting that fifth fourth seat in the east at at worst the

Seventh and they’re really taking it seriously so if you ask me I love seeing it um I saw some fans from other teams laughing at sucks earlier in the year Apollo now bro I’m so sorry you’re filled with guys like Jaylen green that rather have their nails painted than

Don’t play ball so I’m sorry man like it’s that’s my guy too but hey so all I’m saying is man I I love the fact that our team man our front office I’m gonna close it out with this our front office I’ve doubted them before but the more

That time passes I’m like holy crap they had it all figured out they knew what they were doing Joe Engles included AB like all the things that they’ve done that I’m like so tough on them when it first happens I can see why they make those decisions now

Dude I I loved it I loved everything about it um I love that he was confident in the play I loved the reaction afterwards uh I I love everything that I saw there’s not one person in the city of Orlando or any magic fan in the world

That had an issue with him being emotional you have a player that gives a [ __ ] like literally gives it and the fact that when he cursed afterwards I think he dropped like two or three F bombs right he apologized for dropping an F bomb and then he dropped

Another F bomb which which personally I love because it shows how passionate he is right the fact that he got emotional the fact that he loves the fact that they had enough uh confidence in him knowing that he was PL having a bad game right they still went to him and he was

Able to deliver and Paulo man this year his mix he this year is going to be insane because we’ve had so many moments already from Paulo and time after time um he’s he’s delivering and I can’t remember which game it was but there was a game that you know he had an

Opportunity to to win the game and he ended up messing it up and you know he ended up saying you know or Orlando I owe you one and my man followed through man this is this is what you want from your Allstar player from your franchise player

Ow we’re only in year two and every year since we’ve had Paulo we’ve increased our winning every single year obviously it’s only been two years but we continue to get better and Paulo is the leading charge of that France is supporting but Paulo is is literally carrying us on his

Back from what it feels like and I know I know you saw the interview and because we we had talked about it um Gilbert Reit on this podcast and he was talking to you know Kenyan Martin and uh uh what was his name uh Norris Cole right where

He he was talking about um they had brought up you know Paulo B Caro deserves to be an Allstar and and give what Arenas and Kyan Martin didn’t agree with it and Kyan Martin obviously doesn’t watch any Orlando Magic games you can tell just by the conversation

Where he says that the magic were already building something before Paulo B carol which to a very small degree he is correct the magic were building something nothing was built they were building something they had good key pieces Pao ban Carol like the the issue with the magic since Dwight Howard has

Been we haven’t had that guy we haven’t had that guy Pao B Caroll is that guy you remove Pao Bank Caroll then we’re left with nothing right Paulo ban Caro is the foundational structure that we have and the fact that he was saying it was mad disrespectful gilber Arenas was

Like well when I think about allars he’s not you know he doesn’t just jump to my mind right they were talking smack and then the minute that Gil barinas goes on his little phone to look up his stats a man went silent and left Kenyan Martin alone on this island because his analogy

Of the Orlando Magic were building a a cake before Pao ban Caro came and they had all the ingredients and blah blah blah was a bunch of BS and I really can’t believe that people are still like not all there when it comes to Pao Bay

Carol and the Orlando Magic but this is why this postseason is so important so my question to you Al is what more do the magic have to do to start earning respect across a more National br broader level because no matter what your feeling is towards

Gilber arenus or or Kenyan Mar these are these are guys who are they they’re part of the NBA Community they they do have a voice people do listen and you have people out there that believe the stupid junk that they’re saying but what do the magic

Have to do to be able to get to a point where people are now respecting or talk about the magic with respect I think actually we’re talking about this before we started recording the fact that the magic are nine games over 500 after they lost that entire Gap

That they had built back in October November when they were 10 games over 500 at that time I think that’s exactly what they need to do is keep winning keep winning insert yourself in conversations they shouldn’t being SED in so for instance I was listening to a

Sao podcast last night and he’s talking about teams in the east that that are you know in contention he’s like wait Thea magic are back again in that playoff race they’re now six at the time when he was talking about it they have to talk about us because we we’re now

There um if we’re seventh eth nth 10th in the East what’s gonna happen is okay they got better okay Paulo’s getting them some help but they’re years away wait they’re sixth or fifth or fourth all of a sudden that changes the whole narrative they have to watch our games

They have to look at our stats before they go on on live TV and talk about us but it’s embarrassing man I mean people like Gil gilver arenz people like unfortunately Shaq himself say some things on the broadcast on TNT that night that I was like what are you

Talking about so it’s unfortunate but to answer your question directly to force him to talk about us and respect us is to keep on winning and I think the magic have a perfect schedule to do so in March and April so I think they’re going to have to respect us heading into the

Playoffs and again educate themselves before they talk about us because right now they’re not doing that they’re just talking about what they know what they think um um so that will change really quickly if the wins continue what makes it what makes it tough is you know we we had an

Opportunity to really showcase right we we know that the game against OKC when we um retired Shaquille oil Jersey on National Television we know that that was a bad game right it was a home game we really thought we we were going to do well this

Is the magic finally getting a chance to take a look at you home grin this was a team that we were supposed to Face originally on National Television on Paulo rookie year and they ended up rescheduling because check out her like there’s so many Dynamics where this was

A game that was supposed to really uh put us on the map so to say where the average Joe didn’t have to get on NBA TV to be able to watch the Orlando Magic because let’s be honest nobody is doing that right um but at the same time this

Is this is my ass right right whether it’s through the playin or whether it’s through the playoffs we’ve talked about this before the magic have not really dabbled into any free agency any major free agency I’m not talking about Joe Engles I’m talking about being a real player in free agency uh we

Really haven’t done that on on the train Market either since we’ve acquired uh Wendell Carter and Gary Harris like we we really haven’t dabbled into anything extra outside of development and drafting right with the core team that we currently have now and the magic are going to get to a point where

They’re going to have to start doing that because that’s that’s an element of having a better basketball team now where you’re able to Showcase where you’re able to win people in free agency is going to be on the biggest stage which is the playoffs so whether again

Whether we make it in the play whether we make it in the playoffs like the magic have to go out there and they have to compete whether we win or lose like we can’t we can’t get smacked around there there can’t be any 20 30 point

Losses like as much as much as I I I want the magic to to be in the finals like we know that this isn’t the year we know that maybe next year may not be the year but what we do now matters in the off season and the magic need to be able

To get to a point where when we’re in the postseason that we are battling people we are fun to watch and we start earning the respect and we start earning uh other fan bases and Palo ban Caroll is is is playing at a playoff label because what can happen is we put all

This stock into Paulo and and France post season comes around in the playoffs they don’t show up that’s that’s a fear of mine right because then that kind of sets us back a bit it kind of makes the the whole season almost a waste so I I

Think that where we’re going to earn our respect playoffs 100% 100% we’re we’re we’re going to get postseason action that’s happening right what are we gonna do once we get there yeah but I think it also starts with doing what we’ve done this week so you started talking about that Detroit

Game right but if you look at what happened afterwards so we lost against Atlanta I’m going to scratch that one off that was a crazy oneoff Paulo didn’t play Trey young didn’t play so I think that kind of threw everything off and we ended up losing that game

10992 but if you look at what happened after that so we ended up winning against Brooklyn at home 10881 so blowout win that felt so great because we saw Michael Bridges uh talk a lot of trash to to France in that game he can’t guard me and all these things and that

Dated back to the Olympics which by the way France also ended up getting gold in that one so he’s catch you twice now so great blowout win then you got Utah that comes to town and we had that game easily and then what happened was we got

Comfortable and we allowed them to come back into the game and thankfully Jaylen sucks saved us 115 107 we ended up winning that game but then tonight bad team you gotta beat them and the the you know the home stand on a good note we blow them out again 11391 big win

Against Detroit so what I’m trying to get at is we’re getting good at what we need to be good at right now which is beating those bad teams at home those games that you gotta win we’re winning something that cannot be said about this team even in December even for sure last

Year but even December of this year you couldn’t say that a 500 team was going to come to Orlando or a sub 500 team was coming to Orlando and we’re gonna blow them out that wasn’t the case but we’re gonna win some way somehow tough game

But now I’m seeing a different kind of energy in Orlando which is we’re gonna beat you down if you’re if you’re not our level so I think hopefully they’ll carry over to the playoffs because to your point the last thing I want to see is we’re facing I don’t know let’s call

It the Knicks for example and they go MSG 30 point point win 20 point win come to Orlando 18 point win we don’t need that we we get we need the team to remain who they have been all season long play solid defense compete fight into your point heading to the offseason

Now you got guys that are like hey wait Orlando’s building something I want to be a part of that that’s the ultimate goal to me of this season yeah and and listen it’s it’s it’s built like it it is there’s something there it’s it’s already built and what’s awesome about

This season outside of maybe a few right is that the magic are beating the teams that they’re supposed to be and they’re battling against the teams that people don’t expect us to be and when I when I take a look at these last you know certain amount of games like our our

Schedule going up uh let’s see where we’re at I just scrolled up um we got the Hornets next followed by the Wizards the Knicks the Pacers the Nets raptors raptors Hornets Pelicans like the magic could really string together a good amount of games to really support us um you know with

With our battle for for our seating like the magic the the magic the magic number right is we want to be in the six seed that way we don’t have to prove that we’re a playoff team because we’ve seen other teams before that were that seventh seed completely lose out

Right uh of the postseason like you you take a look at our standings right now and the magicard r six right behind us is Miami Heat close on our tails with 34 wins and 26 losses and you got the Pacers that’s behind us also they just got Pascal cakam so you’re You’re

Expecting for them to to eventually get to a point where they’re jelling better together and they start winning games I’m not sure what their roster Dynamic is when who’s her who’s not but you’re You’re Expecting for the Indiana Pacers to be uh a team that’s winning games and

The the magic just one game at a time and if they can steal away some of these games where we’re playing against you know the the Clippers and and uh the Bucks the Warriors like if we if we can get if we can steal some of these games

The magic have a really really good shot I know they have already harped on it enough this episode but the magic have a really good shot at not having to prove um in the playing that they Des that they deserve to be a playoff team the magic have an awesome shot at making

It straight into the postseason yeah and I’ll tell you what too you got teams like ahead of us right now currently Philadelphia at five in the East 35 and 25 so we’re half a game behind them then you got the Knicks 36 and 25 12 uh one

Uh one game behind them right now but you know what’s important to know about those teams Philly doesn’t have him beat no idea when he’s coming back so they’re probably going to keep on going down in the standings which is great for us and today Jaylen Brunson got hurt today a

Leg injury correct they’re calling it a knee injury of some sort I didn’t get all the details just yet but all that means is we play the Knicks on Friday this week coming up so if we can get that win in New York now because they they’re short-handed which they are they

Don’t have rle they don’t have OG they don’t have now possibly Bronson we can steal that game we’ve beaten them now four times this season That’ll be amazing or three times that would be amazing but all I’m trying to say is if the magic control they really control

Their destiny right now they’re ahead of Indiana they’re ahead of the Pacers teams above them are dealing with injuries which hey we’ve dealt with that plenty this year already don’t feel bad capitalize keep winning keep piling up wins and again by the end of the season

April 14th or so we should be a top six team in the East we control our destiny we have the easiest schedule remaining we’re healthy we’re clicking at all s cylinders right now it’s looking really good for us yeah what so one thing that needs to continue to be in our favor

Right you mentioned the the Knicks and and Philadelphia dealing with these major major injuries the magic got to stay healthy just for the last bit of that stretch right Jonathan n almost going down uh excuse me did go down luckily it was not a major injury it

Just ended up being a knee strain um and then he had some type of illness but he was able to return tonight against the Detroit Pistons um so one how fearful were you that was going to be a a uh more major of an injury for Jonathan

Isaac and uh how how good does it feel that he went through that and he was able to come back tonight dude I think that’s the biggest takeaway from me the fact that he went down it looked awkward and unfortunately all injuries When J gets hurt they just look awkward it’s

Not like a like an obvious knee injuries all the time it’s like wait he looked okay but why is he down still oh wait he’s not getting up oh damn he’s gone whole season now so that was my fear like wait like it didn’t look good but

Looked okay and thankfully it was just a big scare was a knee trrain he was able to play really according to him the following game which would have been last Thursday and then he said um then he got sick of some sort guess some sort of illness I guess Paulo maybe got him

Sick but the idea here is he bounced back and I’m gonna say to me that’s the biggest takeaway the fact that he bounced back in less than a week he got back on the court I was really fearful I was like man we’re not going to see J

Until probably April at this point they’re going to put him in a bubble wrap again like they always do he’s going to play five minutes a game no he came back today he did his thing uh didn’t have a great game today but that’s that’s okay but man he is a key

Component of what we do going forward we saw him plenty already closing out games for us playing the the whole fourth quarter think about the playoffs man think about us facing again the Knicks the Celtics whoever it may be and you say you got again jayen sucks ji Paulo

France and whoever else on the court that’s a scary lineup a really tall lineup you gotta be dealing with on a seven game series it’s not easy so again I know and I’ll ask you this later in the episode like what are our goals are we happy

With just one win in the first round are we hoping to advance like we’ll debate that later but my thing is with ji on our team it makes us a honestly at least twice better just because of him the fear on the opponents so they have to go

To the basket when J is down there it’s different man it’s different so I’m really really glad that he did not get hurt um any worse that he’s okay okay because for a second I’m like holy crap here we go again but thankfully just a big scare what about you yeah I think

For me personally it’s it’s I love the fact that we’re we’re not putting him in that bubble wrap like you mentioned right uh Jonathan Isaac had mentioned that he he feels okay and he feels like you know he’ll be ready to go um you know pretty soon and and that was that

Was communication we got really early on so um but we we’ve had moments where what he says and what gets done are on two completely opposite sides of the field so the fact that he came back fairly quickly cuz I I was in the same

Bat I was like man we’re not we’re not going to see Jonathan Isaac until you know the last remaining games and and the fact that you know he was able to make it back makes me feel amazing because it shows that you know maybe Jonathan Isaac is is healthy enough to

Where he’s able to weather these these awkward uh or or random uh Falls and and hurt and injuries because when when I saw that play I was like man it didn’t even look like he stepped on the guy’s foot like his knee just kind of gave out

Like this is uh the biggest fear that you can possibly have when it comes to Jonathan Isaac there’re being some type of awkward uh disconnect with what his body movements and and his his body so um I super happy to see him back um and the fact that we didn’t you know baby

Him at any point we allow for him to come back um you know fairly early um he was able to play way before my expectations I was expecting for him to at least miss you know at least a month like I I don’t know I I was expecting

The worst so really glad to be able to see Jonathan Isaac out there and you know you’re you’re right as he didn’t have a good game today but the fact that he was out there uh really shows like yeah all all the stuff that people were talking in the off season about Jonathan

I about uh he he doesn’t want to play he just wants to be on book tours and be on Fox News and blah blah blah like this is this is somebody that regardless of how you feel about him on the outside this is someone that wants to be on the court

Wants to battle with this team I mean you can definitely tell you can definitely tell he cares 100% man I think that’s a bit in doubt right I think just people unfortunately mix in politics with everything else that goes on the court but at the end of the day

Man I’ve never doubted his passion for the game I’ve never doubted impact that he can have on our team we can see it every single night when he’s on the court so I’m just glad he’s back he’s playing for us and again hopefully it stays that way the rest of the season um

I will follow up now and ask you so talking about all this we’re looking great we’re playing Amazing ji is healthy let’s again update our audience because we’ve talked about this multiple times we’ve gone through bad winning bad stretches in the season we’re like wait remember our goal initially was to make

The play in realistically if if you go back to our episodes when we did seon season prediction that was our goal make the play in but then we adjusted and said hey you know what we’re playing incredible guess what we got to modify those those those

Expectations and say now we got to make the playoffs not the playin but the playoffs then we lost a bunch of games we’re like wait we were unhealthy again we’re like wait let’s go back playing it’s to goal remember that so let’s update that now we’re in March we’re

About a month away from the season ending 21 games remain we’ve won 35 games now one more than last year already you personally what are your expectations in the sense of what are you okay with is it making the play in still that would satisfy you as a fan

Like okayy man we did that that was a goal we did it is it making the playoffs but winning multiple games not one but multiple or is it actually winning a series and I’m asking this because a lot of fans on Twitter are already putting expectations on our team like you better

Win a series if you don’t do that it’s a failure oh we got to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals otherwise and I’m like wait calm down people so what are your thoughts on that I I think that it is natural to believe to to change your um your your

Your floor for this basketball team like your expectations it’s okay for it to change because the team has changed this is not this is this is a completely different team than we saw last year right so I I think in the beginning of the Season everyone was on the same page

This is a year for winning right in that winning we were all on the same page where we said magic need to make it into the playing tournament and that quickly changed once the magic went on a a streak really really early on and we’re

Like all right like this this is a a very good basketball team we can win games right um and I I think that for me personally my expectations 100% has changed and I’m expecting for us to be in the playoffs I’m not at a point yet

Where my expectations are to win uh the first round I’m not I’m not there do I believe that we can do it yes 100% is it going to be easy no it is not like a lot of things have to fall in line and we we

Need to be healthy we need to be lucky and we need to be able to be efficient and be able to execute right Paulo and Fran they got to lead us there but it’s not it’s not just them our our second unit for a little while we’re a little worried about them

Because they they haven’t been playing at the level of you know where that second unit was playing in the beginning of the Season we’re now starting to see them roll a little bit Co Anthony’s playing a lot better Joe Eng Les is is doing whatever it is that Joe Engles

Does out there but MO vogner is playing really good basketball you know so I think for me my expectations is no matter what happens magic need to make the playoffs and they have to compete in the first round like it it’s not winning one game isn’t enough for me like that’s

Those are not my expectations like my expectation at the very least like the minimum that I’m willing to accept is two to three games first series like it it needs to be a battle like it has to be a battle magic need to protect homec Court like the magic need to be

Able to really showcase I said it a few moments ago this is what allows for us to be able to have a very strong off season where our only bargaining chip isn’t being able to pay somebody a lot of money to come play in Orlando like

And the way that we do that is going to be the postseason so for me my expectations to win games in the first round do I think that we can 100% am I am I putting my money am I am I wagering the house for the magic make it out of

The first round absolutely not not a good bet I I wouldn’t I wouldn’t do that just yet because there’s no there’s no history we’re we’re going based off last season and for us to go from not making the playoffs still getting a six round pick in the first draft to potentially

Making it into the playoffs this season it’s an accomplishment and and people should look at it that way but this team still like the the story of this team goes far beyond this season and next season I completely agree with you so I think that’s why I wanted to ask you

That question because for me again the floor has changed it is now playing still it’s got to happen the war casy scenario make the plan you can’t miss it at this point but if you ask me my goal remains you got to in the first round to your point

Make competitive you got to win one two three games and heck depending on who you’re facing if we end up with a fourth seed in the East and you’re playing I don’t know a Philadelphia team that doesn’t have a beat guess what all of a sudden I expect you to win that series

Find a way to make it to win it because you are a talented team they don’t have their best player you got to win that series are we the seventh seed and now we’re playing the bugs or the Celtics compete make it tough on them but I

Might think I’m going to win three games in the series probably not so I think it depends on where we end up but my ultimate goal will be have a tough first round and let it be what it be if we win the series amazing we’ll celebrate we’ll

Go crazy I’ll be at every game celebrating and going crazy but again I think people that are thinking oh we got to win the east or make it to the east like we not there yet guys in my opinion relax We’re Gonna Keep building this

Team is the B it’s still the baby stages man we’re building this thing and to be where we are today that’s impressive enough what we’re going to be next year with with a fourth year France and a third year Apollo and that sucks it we’ll be even better just those three

Guys alone plus ji it’s ins same what this team can accomplish let alone free agency so we’ll get there but I just think that this year for us the goal should be have an amazing first round let it play out it’s not about this season it’s not about next season for

It’s about the next 10 seasons like Paulo and France are still babies man but what is that going to look like and what is this team going to look like when they’re reaching their Prime the magic would be in a in a diff completely different scenario you’re you’re still you’re still trying to

Figure out which players fit best around those guys and I and we’ve talked about this before in other episodes where it feels as if this is kind of like a tryy out of of who and it’s not who’s playing better who fits best with these guys and

Now this is where we’re going to really see that in the Battle of of postseason and we we’ve talked about like there’s there’s moments in these past Seasons where all we were ask for were the magic to play meaningful games towards the end of the season and we we got that in more

And I I love what coach MOS is doing right now I like the starting lineup of of Suggs and and Harris with fron Paulo and Wendell like I sugs to me is is we talked about in the beginning of the Season who’s going to be that one player

That stands out outside of Paulo and France and I don’t think you or I said Jaylen SS I thought I think we said Anthony and maybe Jonathan Isaac we weren’t expecting Jaylen sugs the last two season of Jaylen sugs have been rough this season of Jaylen Suggs this

Dude has has upped his his points differential his defense his three-point shooting the dude’s averaging about 3 35% from the three-point line Jaylen Suggs and the way that we’ve been using him now we’re we’re playing him at a point even though he’s really not a point he’s a shooting guard but he’s out

There with Jaylen SS like with uh with Gary Harris Jaylen Suggs to me when we when we talk about Untouchables right I think that out of everyone on this team we know that Paulo and France are Untouchable I’m not I’m not going to say that jayen Suggs isn’t Untouchable I’m

GNA say that Jaylen Suggs is a part of the future and the present and I don’t think that the magic from office would want to include him in any any conversations but to me jayen Suggs is a person that completely change his role his his perspective of from the

Fan base from the front office like Jaylen Suggs is a part of this core that I think has been a massive surprise for for everyone and when we think about hor and hustle right with the Orlando Magic at one point we we felt like that was

Cole Anthony but in my opinion I think Jaylen Suggs snatched that away from Cole Anthony and he he lives and Bree it that dude just plays hard bro like today against the Detroit Pistons he didn’t care who was going up for uh for for that dunk he he was going up them going

Up there and playing defense and if he gets dunked on he gets dunked on but he’s he’s going out there he’s going to make sure that it’s tough and hard on you he plays hard offensively he plays hard defensively and he is very passionate he likes to beat on his chest

A lot and I love everything about it this new found jayen Suggs that we had this season is has been a big surprise and although Paul and France will ultimately get a lot of the credit Jaylen Suggs deserves a lot of that as well and I gotta tell you man I think

100% agree with what you said about Jaylen um I I will clarify he’s actually shooting now I just checked him I’m wild at this 39% 39 my God so almost 40% and mind you he’s coming from a season where he shot this rookie season 21% year two 32% year three 39% and I

Gotta tell you man I always said it with him like that form is so freaking beautiful like they they’re gonna start falling down eventually they gotta start being it’s they’ll go in eventually and I remember also Gonzaga like this this dude was a legit nice shooter I’m like

He’s adapting to the that that extra whatever it is um between the college three-point line NBA three-point line it takes him getting used to uh and I think he’s figuring it out but I think for sure he’s made himself into that third star role that we needed so badly who’s

The third guy in Orlando that you gotta keep around I think that is Jaylen sus um but I do like the role that they’re playing him right now which is that point guard position he’s like a fake point guard in my opinion he’s not really creating the offense he’s

Bringing the ball up and he’ll give it to Paulo France whoever else they create the offense reminds me of mar smart once again with the Celtics like he was a point guard in name but in reality he wasn’t really ball handling the ball the entire game so I love that because you

Need the ball in Paulo in France’s hands at the most uh during the game so I think what the magic should be looking for this offseason if anything I love the new sudden lineup by the way nothing against uh Marquel folz which by the way looked terrific tonight season high in

Points against Detroit the shot looked really nicely I don’t know what’s happening with marel but all of a sudden no tape on the shoulder the shooting form look really nice again I’m not going to get excited let’s see what happens but I do like Gary Harris in the

Sting five just because it gives more shooting it gives more space for Paulo and France to create it allows jayen sus more open looks as well Wendell looked really good today against against detroy as well so if you ask me where we go from here is finish a season with the sudden

Lineup if they’re all healthy but heading into the offseason I think you’re now saying to yourself you know we really need orl a dead eye three-point shooter that hopefully has some size to him 6667 and now you you do that you do jayen sucks whoever the shooting guard

Will be that can shoot it really well France Paulo ji Wendell whoever how you want to go there but the missing key to me right now with this team is that shooting guard position ideally a a sniper because you’re seeing it it works really well when it when it’s all

Clicking you you see one pist in this game and you you already won EV for back in Orlando uh no however I will say six-man EV for I may be okay with that I wouldn’t hate it yeah you know it’s it’s crazy that you say that right because um I saw a few

People online that that were saying the magic better not even think about doing it and I think that a lot of the distaste that happened with Evan forier um has to do with obviously him us asking Evan for to do more of of what he really is we’re not asking we wouldn’t

Be asking him to start we wouldn’t be asking him to drop 30 points a game we’re we’re not asking for any of that we’re asking for a big shooting guard to come off the bench and be able to open up um the floor for Paulo and and fron

And whoever he’s on the floor with and I wouldn’t be mad at it man I wouldn’t be mad at all um so the the magic end up going back on the road before we end the month of March uh with nine out of the 10 games at home the magic play really

Really good basketball at home so the fact that we’re going to end the month nine games at home is is definitely beautiful so we we have Tuesday against Charlotte Wednesday against um the Washington Wizards and then Friday against the New York Knicks what are what are your predictions for these last

Three games I mean it’s got to be a perfect week if you ask me it’s got to be a perfect week but if you got to say a game we don’t show up for whatever it may be let’s go two and one at the worst case scenario before we start that crazy

Home stand that we have coming up um ideal though you got to take it seriously you got to you got to understand what’s a stake here you’re you’re playing for playoff seating um so hopefully you win it’s a back toback against Charlotte and Washington it’s a that’s that’s a tough back toback

Because stalling Bol like always it’s never easy in the NBA to win a game it’s never easy back toback games so ideally you win those two and then heading into New York if Brunson truly is hurt and he might miss some time again they’re short-handed man you got to go there

With the mindset of we got to attack early get a a big lead and put them away early don’t give them a chance to even smell a a win have a chance of winning the game put him away so I’m want to go with two and one but ideally it is three

And 0 yep give me three and 0 if there’s one thing the magic cannot afford to do is we cannot afford to play down to our competition imagine you need to go there and and take care of business like we did with the Pistons today uh there were

There were moments where we kind of felt like we were giving the lead back or or the we’re finding a way to fight uh the way back into the game and we’re able to you know it’s a game of runs so we’re able to to stop the runs and and be able

To you know close out on these games the magic need to be able to do that we can’t we can’t take Charlotte Hornets likly we can’t take the Wizards lightly we can’t take uh a Brunson lless Nicks lightly we need to be able to go in there and take care of business get

These wins because now even more so than ever every single game matters now for the first time in so long we are worried about seeding ow dud not talking about the draft we’re not we’re not we’re not talking about we’re we’re we’re in March bro and we’re not we’re not talking

About hey we need a we need to watch these players at for March Madness because you know this is the player that we we don’t care about the draft we’re talking about seating seating and the fact that we’re we’re here having this conversation now again goes to show the the growth of

This team and I and I I I swear to you man I I couldn’t be more proud and more excited of what the next few months is is going to be like so um man magic big win against the Pistons it’s the Pistons but every win now is is a big win um

Unfortunate that some of the other teams uh that we wanted to lose today so that we can advance in the seeding ended up winning um but man it’s going to be a battle game by game um and we we’ll see what ends up happening um this next week

Episode today was sponsored by bet online it is a wrap catch you guys next week for all the latest Magic news and updates visit Orlando Magic hq.com and follow us on Instagram at Orlando magicq and on Twitter at om magic HQ also remember to subscribe to our YouTube

Channel And subscribe and leave a five-star review on your favorite listening platform

In this Orlando Magic HQ podcast episode:

– Magic’s solid play continues
– JI injury scare and return to the lineup
– Is Jalen Suggs our third star player?
– Realistic expectations for the Playoffs
… and much more!

Timeline:

00:00 Introduction and Recap of Recent Games
01:01 Importance of Every Game
03:24 Introduction of Sponsors
04:19 Discussion on Eastern Conference Winners
06:14 The Magic as a Wild Card Team
07:42 Importance of Staying Out of the Play-In Tournament
08:12 Discussion on Paulo Bencaro’s Emotional Game-Winning Shot
09:06 Earning Respect on a National Level
11:01 The Magic’s Progress and Building Respect
14:20 The Importance of Performing Well in the Playoffs
21:21 Beating Bad Teams and Building Momentum
22:19 The Magic’s Goal for the Season
23:48 Battle for Playoff Seeding
24:17 Playoff Potential
26:13 Jonathan Isaac’s Return
31:23 Revisiting Season Goals
38:29 Jalen Suggs’ Impact
43:22 Building for the Future
45:18 Upcoming Games and Expectations

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