{"id":308956,"date":"2025-11-26T02:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T02:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/308956\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T02:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T02:07:14","slug":"the-key-for-magics-postseason-push-couldnt-be-more-clear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/308956\/","title":{"rendered":"The key for Magic’s postseason push couldn’t be more clear"},"content":{"rendered":"

To some people’s surprise, there are 10 East teams with a .500 or better record after one month. One of those teams is the Orlando Magic, albeit through 18 games, who are 10-8, two games back of the Miami Heat for the No. 3 seed in the East.<\/p>\n

It’s still way too early to get a real feel for how the conference will shake out. But the formula for how the Magic, who are 9-4 over their last 13, continue to find to success, is simple, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk<\/p>\n

“Defensively, the Magic are still trying to recapture the level they defended at last season when they finished with the second-best defensive rating,” Youngmisuk wrote<\/a>. “And the Magic are playing faster with coach Jamahl Mosley emphasizing running off stops and pushing when they can. But shooting remains a question mark.<\/p>\n

“Orlando paid a steep price to get Desmond Bane to address this area, betting he will raise his 3-point shooting percentage to his career 40.7% average. But will his presence open more space for Banchero and Franz Wagner to operate in? And can Banchero and Wagner improve their 3-point shooting to get the Magic out of the first round?<\/p>\n

“Wendell Carter Jr. and Tristan da Silva have shot above 40% from 3, which helps. But if Orlando wants to make noise in the postseason, Bane, Banchero and Wagner have to raise their 3-point shooting to give Orlando’s elite defense the help it needs.”<\/p>\n

Magic will still need to continue showcasing improved offense against better competition:\"Orlando<\/p>\n

Nov 16, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley reacts during the first half against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Magic have played the NBA’s 8th-toughest schedule, according to Dunks & Threes. But they are middle-of-the-pack in defenses faced (15th) with the league’s 11th-best adjusted offense (relative to SOS).<\/p>\n

Orlando has been a good-not-great offense against good defenses. The Pistons, Heat and Nuggets await over the next three weeks, among others.<\/p>\n

The Magic are playing faster and have continued to jell, even without star forward Paolo Banchero. Desmond Bane has shaken off his slow start to the season; Franz Wagner looks like he’s poised to make his first All-Star team; Anthony Black and Tristan da Silva have continued to make strides in their development.<\/p>\n

But as the East continues to shake itself, out, they will need to continue looking more connected — on both sides of the ball — to set themselves up for a deep push. <\/p>\n

More Orlando Magic Stories:Empty heading<\/p>\n

Magic youngsters spearhead late comeback in loss to Jaylen Brown, Celtics<\/a><\/p>\n

Franz Wagner continues to excel without Banchero as Magic humble Knicks again<\/a><\/p>\n

Magic need to learn a lesson about Desmond Bane<\/a><\/p>\n

This Magic continue to excel in one key area<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To some people’s surprise, there are 10 East teams with a .500 or better record after one month.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-308956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}