By John Denton August 6, 2013
ORLANDO – The Orlando Magic will open and close their 25th anniversary ''Silver Season'' against the Indiana Pacers -- a fitting scheduling quirk considering that their top draft pick, Victor Oladipo, played his college basketball in the Hoosier State.
Oladipo, the second overall pick in the June NBA Draft, will make his NBA debut on Oct. 29 when the Magic open the 2013-14 season in Indiana against the Pacers. It's just the second time in the past 10 years that Orlando will open the season with a road game.
When the NBA released its schedule on Tuesday night, it revealed that the Magic will have 18 sets of back-to-back games, a season-long six-game home stand in December and a season-long six-game road trip in December.
The Magic will play their home-opener on Nov. 1 against the New Orleans Pelicans. That game is the start of a four-game home stand that will also see the Magic host the revamped Brooklyn Nets (Nov. 3), the retooled Los Angeles Clippers (Nov. 6) and the rebuilding Boston Celtics (Nov. 8).
Former Magic center Dwight Howard, who signed a four-year, $88 million free-agent contract with the Houston Rockets in early July, won't play in Orlando with his new team until March 5. The Magic will play in Houston on Dec. 8 during their season-long six-game road trip.
The Magic will host the NBA World Champion Miami Heat at the Amway Center on Nov. 20 and then will face Miami in South Florida three days later. The Heat will return to Orlando on Jan. 4 for a Saturday night game.
The Magic and the Heat played before the largest crowd to ever see a basketball game in Orlando (19,311) last December. Miami won that game 112-110 in overtime, but it was also significant because Magic center Nikola Vucevic set a franchise record in the game with 29 rebounds.
This season, Orlando will host the Golden State Warriors at 5 p.m. on New Year's Eve. The Magic whipped the Warriors, last season's most surprising team, twice last year.
Magic season tickets, partial plans, group and single-game Amway Center suite rental opportunities are on sale now.
Ticket highlights for the 2013-14 season in the Amway Center, honored with TheStadiumBusiness Awards’ 2013 Customer Experience Award and named SportsBusiness Journal's 2012 Sports Facility of the Year, include: 2,500 seats priced $20 or less, 8,000 seats priced $40 or less and 9,000 seats priced $50 or under. Single-game tickets for the first half of the regular season will go on sale in October at a date to be announced. For ticket information log on to www.orlandomagic.com or call 407-89-MAGIC.
Beginning its 25th season, the Magic will celebrate their “Silver Season” with the entire Orlando community by remembering their success, the rich history of legendary moments, players, people and fans, while building on an exciting future.
Orlando opens training camp on October 1 at the Amway Center.
A young Magic team built around a core of Tobias Harris, Maurice Harkless, Andrew Nicholson, Vucevic and Oladipo are hoping to use a home-heavy November to get off to a fast start. The Magic play 10 of their 14 games in November at the Amway Center. However, the Magic have more road games than home games in December, January and February.
Orlando will be home around the holidays in November and December. The Magic have home games the day before Thanksgiving (Nov. 27 vs. Philadelphia) and the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 29 vs. San Antonio). Also, Orlando will be at home around Christmas on Dec. 23 (vs. New York) and Dec. 27 (Detroit).
The time around Christmas will feature the Magic's longest stretch of games at the Amway Center of the season. The six-game home stand will include games against Utah (Dec. 18), Sacramento (Dec. 21), New York (Dec. 23), Detroit (Dec. 27), Atlanta (Dec. 29) and Golden State (Dec. 31).
Los Angeles Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant could miss the early portion of the regular season as he attempts to return from a torn Achilles' tendon. The Lakers' lone visit to Orlando is Jan. 24.
Orlando's most challenging stretches of the season comes during a period where it will play six road games over an 10-day span. The Magic will play at Washington, Philadelphia, New York, Houston, Memphis and Charlotte from Dec. 2-11.
Oladipo impressed the Magic with some stellar play during the Orlando Pro Summer League in July. An All-American shooting guard in college at Indiana University, Oladipo is expected to split his time between point guard and shooting guard with the Magic.
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
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