With 26 Games to Go, Magic in No Position to Relax after All-Star Break

With seven weeks remaining and postseason positions up for grabs, Paolo Banchero said the Orlando Magic are "not in a position where we can relax. Guys have to come back and we all have to be ready."

Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) celebrates after a basket during the third quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center. / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

ORLANDO, Fla. – On the eve of the NBA All-Star break, Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley was asked last week to summarize his squad's 56 games to that point.

"We've had about three seasons in one," Mosley said following a 16-point victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

He isn't wrong.

Orlando had expectations to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. That forecast took a hit in Game 5, when All-Star and leading scorer Paolo Banchero suffered a torn oblique muscle. He would miss 34 games.

Frontcourt partner Franz Wagner, who elevated his play to an All-Star level, and defensive menace Jalen Suggs admirably helped keep the Magic afloat — even after Wagner went down with the same injury in early December. In Season 2, Orlando spent every day between Nov. 12 and Jan. 9 in third or fourth place, good enough for home-court advantage come the postseason.

The injuries and lineup disruptions took a toll come January. Suggs missed 19 of 20 games in Season 3 and the Magic slid backward to a 27-29 record, which has them now sitting seventh place and in Play-In Tournament territory.

"What (the journey) has done is give us a glimpse of what we can do when we are whole, and then it's also given us a glimpse of when things get difficult, how we respond," Mosley said.

If the playoffs began tomorrow, the Magic would be looking at one of two scenarios to clinch a first round playoff berth:

• Winning the No. 7-No. 8 play-in game for the right to face No. 2 Boston or, if they lost that game,
• Defeating the winner of the No. 9-No. 10 play-in game, which would see the Magic host either Miami or Chicago for the chance to face top seed Cleveland.

Starting Thursday, when the Magic play the Atlanta Hawks, until April 11, a "fourth season" is upon them — a 26-game dash with postseason positions up for grabs.

"I think that's a great piece, to walk into 26 games on the back end knowing that you're going to get hit sometimes, you're not going to win all the games, but how do you respond back after that happens," Mosley said.

If the similar thread in each player's response about the outlook post All-Star break is any indication, then the Magic understand the opportunity.

"It's everyone's personal responsibility to take the time that you need, but also be ready to go when we come back because we're not in a position where we can relax," Banchero said. "Guys have to come back and we all have to be ready."

"Come back fresh for the last 26 games," Wagner said. "And then have the right mindset coming into every game knowing that, [with] our situation, we can't take any game for granted."

Wendell Carter Jr., who last year saw first-hand his Magic team go 17-10 after the break to secure the No. 5 playoff seed on the season's final day, shared the same sentiment.

"We've got to figure out a way to crawl out of this hole that we're in now," Carter Jr. said. "Nobody on the outside is going to help us. It's going to take all 15 guys on the roster."

That includes him, knowing his season hasn't seen the consistency in production he's accustomed to.

"It's going to be probably the most important 26 games of my career," Carter Jr. said. "We definitely have our opportunities to still be in that top six, top five range going into postseason. We just have to take it. Every game we have to show up [and] find a way to win, whether that's each man to a man, we just have to find ways to lift this team up because we need it right now."

"We have everything we want right in front of us," veteran guard Gary Harris said. "We're still in a good position. I know we dropped games and we haven't really been in rhythm this last month. Granted, all the things that have happened and all the games we've dropped, we still control our destiny, and that's to go to the playoffs and to make noise in the playoffs."

When play resumes, the Magic look up in the standings to see:

• No. 6 Detroit, 2.5 games ahead,
• No. 5 Milwaukee, 3.5 games ahead, and
• No. 4 Indiana, 4.5 games ahead.

No. 3 New York is 10 games ahead — a likely unrealistic goal that would require a Knicks collapse and Magic avalanche.

Below the Magic, they'll be fending off Atlanta and Miami, each a half-game behind in eighth and ninth. Barring collapse of their own, Orlando should be safe of No. 10 Chicago, 4.5 games back in the final play-in spot.

Said Anthony Black, who spent his time off as a first-time Rising Star: "I think we'll come back charged up and we'll just start to hit our incline for the second half."

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