Orlando Magic not counting themselves out

Everyone seems ready to count out the Orlando Magic from the Playoff race. The team remains committed to pushing for the Playoffs and righting this ship.

Things look bleak for the Orlando Magic these days.

The team is 18-29, having lost 17 of the past 25 games and 10 of 13 games in January. The Magic are five games out of the Playoffs, but have four teams to climb over just to get to ninth. One of those teams is the suddenly resurgent Philadelphia 76ers.

Indeed, the Magic’s nascent Playoff hopes are not looking good at this point in the season. As ESPN.com pointed out earlier this week, the standings rarely change after Jan. 20. With more than half a season gone, the Orlando Magic are who they are.

And that would seemingly be not a Playoff team.

But there is still time. Crazier things have happened. And if the Magic’s calculation suddenly click into place, there is a Playoff team in there.

The Magic spent the first quarter of the season as the third-best defense in the league, it gave them a chance to win every game. It is not impossible to find that defensive ability again.

That seems to be the hope the Magic are clinging to. The hope that in the next 35 games, the Magic can click in, go on a run and turn things around.

While everyone — including this site — has been ready to write the season off in the face of this daunting uphill climb, the Magic are not there yet. They are using all this talk as motivation to get better and do what seems impossible right now.

“I’m not preaching to look at any other team,” coach Frank Vogel said. “Everybody is writing us off. We can’t write ourselves off. We can’t quit at it. We’ve got to keep driving, keep grinding, stay in it and keep going. And see what we can make happen.”

Throughout the season, Vogel has asserted his belief that this group can get the job done and make the Playoffs. General manager Rob Hennigan echoed those sentiments in an interview he gave with John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com. There is still plenty of belief the team has Playoff talent and could at least look like a Playoff team.

It has helped so far that only six teams ahead of the Magic have played .500 or better in their last 10 games. There is still a lot of variability among the teams fighting for Playoff spots. And they are still pretty tightly packed — the difference between six and 10 is two games.

But that time to make a run is quickly running out. That push for the Playoffs needs to start in Friday’s game against the Boston Celtics. FiveThirtyEight’s MELO ratings predict the Magic to finish with 31 wins and gives the team a three percent chance to make the Playoffs.

If Orlando is going to get back into the race, it must happen soon. And it is not about any of those other teams. It is about the Magic first and foremost.

“We have to have our own motivation to want to do this,” Nikola Vucevic said. “If you have to look for external motivation then you have issues. It has to come from ourselves and each individual from this team that we want to do this. We have to keep believing that we can do it. It’s going to be really hard. But we have to fight until the end until it’s not possible to make it anymore.”

The Magic may be able to get some of that internal motivation in their next five games. All five teams the Magic will play next — the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Indiana Pacers — have embarrassed the Magic with blowout defeats at points throughout the season.

Vogel said against these kinds of teams, there is some added motivation to bring it and get rid of the sting.

But the focus for the Magic to get back into this race is less about the standings and how other teams are doing and how the Magic are doing. Orlando is more worried about itself and getting a win rather than what other teams are doing or the possibility for revenge.

To climb back into the Playoff race, they have to worry about themselves. They have to worry about getting their defense back on track and staying consistent offensively. These are the keys to reaching the Playoffs. Nothing else really matters.

Once they solve that problem, then the Playoff talk can get serious again. Once the Magic make that run and realize their potential, they can look seriously at their goals.

There are no plans to give up on that notion. So long as the team still has a chance to make the Playoffs, no matter how long the odds, the Magic plan to keep fighting to make the Playoffs.

“Anything is possible,” Serge Ibaka said. “We are going to keep trying. We are having a rough time right now. But we are never going to give up. If we fail at the end, after the season we will say we tried and it didn’t work. The season is still going. We’re going to keep trying. We’re going to keep fighting.”