Magic Eye Goal For Next Season After Playoff Elimination

The Orlando Magic now understand the importance of home court advantage after losing in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.

Apr 9, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) warms up prior to the / Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

ORLANDO — The Orlando Magic finished the regular season as the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, which was a massive accomplishment for a group that had never finished higher than 10th together as a team.

But finishing in fifth meant going on the road to start the playoffs, and the Magic couldn't grab a win away from Orlando in four tries, resulting in losing the series to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The part that stings is that the Magic were just three games back of finishing with the No. 2 seed, which would have given them homecourt advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs. Knowing how homecourt advantage plays a massive role in the postseason, the Magic are hungry to ensure they have that in the future.

"I mean, I think for us, I don't think we took games for granted this year. At least I don't think we intentionally took any games for granted. But I think you know even more next year, we [are] not taking a single game for granted just because you see how it was in the playoffs," Cole Anthony said. "I just thought home court advantage is a big, big deal. And I think that we see how big of a deal it is now just in terms of how this playoff series went."

Every game matters, and the Magic now know that firsthand. Losing a one-point game to the Atlanta Hawks in Mexico City back in November, dropping a three-point game to the Miami Heat in early January, or a one-point game to the injured-beyond-belief Memphis Grizzlies in late January all had an effect on the Magic finishing in fifth rather than in the top four, and that is definitely a point for emphasis for Orlando going into next season.

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