ORLANDO – Some 12 days ago, the Orlando Magic hobbled into the Amway Center off a disappointing loss in Washington the night before, knowing the stretch of basketball ahead of them would likely determine their playoff fate.
Four games into a five-game home stand and the Magic have racked up four straight victories to stay in contention for one of the final playoff slots in the Eastern Conference. Now, with Orlando (35-38) one game back of No. 8 Miami and two games back No. 7 Detroit, it looks to close out its longest home stand of the season with a fifth consecutive victory against the star-studded Philadelphia 76ers (47-26) tonight at the Amway Center.
``It’s a sign of growing up as a team,’’ said Magic forward Wes Iwundu said of his squad’s ability to string together four straight home wins to stay in the playoff race. ``We had a tough one against Memphis (on Friday) when they jumped on us early, but we stayed with it and came out with the win and it was an important win no matter who it was versus. Every game from here on out is the same – the main goal is to just get the win. From here on out, that’s our mindset and we just want to stay focused.’’
Orlando’s complete focus, head coach Steve Clifford stressed, is on tonight’s showdown against the surging Sixers. Late tonight, the Magic will shift their attention to Tuesday’s game against the Heat. Orlando holds a 2-1 edge in the season series and can lock up the tiebreaker with a victory in South Florida.
``Tomorrow night, you can’t worry about tomorrow night,’’ Clifford said with conviction. ``You’ve got nine games left and if we can’t play nine hard games, we don’t deserve to get in anyway. We have to try to win tonight.’’
Orlando goes into tonight with the confidence that it can defeat the Sixers because it did just that on the Amway Center parquet on Nov. 14. That night, Orlando used a 21-0 burst in the fourth quarter to wipe out a 16-point deficit. Ultimately, Terrence Ross drilled a last-second shot that allowed the Magic to escape with a 111-106 defeat of Philadelphia.
``That was a fun game,’’ remembered Magic center Nikola Vucevic, who outplayed Sixers center Joel Embiid (19 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists) that night with 30 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three 3-pointers. ``Obviously, they are playing better now with Jimmy (Butler) being accustomed to the team and they’ve got Tobias (Harris) now, too. They’ve had some big wins lately and they’ve made a big push. It will be a big game for us, and we’ll have to bring our best effort.’’
The Nov. 14 game between the Magic and the Sixers was Butler’s first in a Philadelphia uniform, and the No. 3 seed in the East has since added Harris to fortify the star-studded starting five. The Magic have actually played well against Philadelphia in all three meetings, winning in Orlando and losing twice in narrow fashion (116-115 and 114-106) in Philadelphia. Vucevic feels that Orlando’s size, versatility and its many defensive-minded players allows it to stack up with the Sixers.
``We feel like we matchup pretty well against them,’’ said Vucevic, who has averaged 23 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and 1.7 steals in three games against Philadelphia this season. ``We have size that we can use against their size. And we have some good matchups that will be fun. Obviously, me and Embiid, (Aaron Gordon) will usually guard (Ben) Simmons and (Jonathan) Isaac probably on Tobias (Harris), so we have good size to throw against them. But they’re obviously very talented with a lot of good players. So, we’ll have to make sure that we’re focused and prepared.’’
Reserve point guard Michael Carter-Williams has been plenty focused and prepared since signing a 10-day contract with the Magic on March 15. After playing well in each of the three games he’s appeared in – all Magic wins – the franchise inked him to a second 10-day contract on Monday that will make him available to play tonight against the Sixers. Carter-Williams won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award in 2014 while playing for the Sixers, but he was unexpectedly traded to the Milwaukee Bucks half a season later. He’ll likely have some extra motivation heading into tonight’s game.
``He’s played well,’’ Clifford said of Carter-Williams, who has averaged 3.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 16.4 minutes a night over three games. ``Both ends of the floor - we’ve played well offensively when he’s on the floor and we’ve played well defensively. And, obviously, as you saw the other night (in the win over Memphis), he’s such a good rebounder for his position.’’
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