The Orlando Magic can\u2019t lose to the Sacramento Kings on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Obviously, they can. Anyone who has watched them attempt to defend the Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers the past two games knows that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, more accurately, the Orlando Magic can\u2019t lose to the Western Conference-worst Sacramento Kings on Thursday night and wake up in the morning without making a drastic change.<\/p>\n
Jamahl Mosley is going to think I don\u2019t like him. That couldn\u2019t be the furthest thing from the truth. Seems like a good guy. He commands respect and has coached under and with some of the game\u2019s best tacticians.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t change the obvious. He\u2019s lost this Orlando Magic team, which means they have no shot of doing anything next month when the playoffs begin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The excuses are valid. Franz Wagner and Anthony Black have been sidelined, joined on the bench by point guard Jalen Suggs due to an illness over the past two games. Those guys are essential pieces who could have prevented Monday\u2019s loss to the Pacers and would\u2019ve at least given the defense a chance to stop the Cavs two nights ago, when they allowed Cleveland to shoot 60 percent from the field in scoring 136 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We were told excuses weren\u2019t allowed when Magic president Jeff Weltman issued what was basically a \u201cwin now\u201d edict this offseason. In mortgaging future draft capital for the next few years to last missing piece Desmond Bane, who has been good after a slow start, Orlando vowed to compete for a championship.<\/p>\n
Mosley is known as a defensive mind, so his reputation is currently being tarnished. Many Magic fans have sworn off this group, having been sold on competing for a title and approaching April in danger of opening the postseason on the road for an elimination game where they would be an underdog against the Charlotte Hornets.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not Chicken Little nonsense. That\u2019s the Magic\u2019s reality.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Magic slip to No. 10 in East a week after rising to No. 5<\/p>\n
While Orlando\u2019s season-long six-game losing streak has now dragged it down to 10th in the Eastern Conference thanks to a 15-16 record since mid-January, the Hornets have gone 24-8 since Jan. 15. The teams have identical records, but Charlotte won three of four meetings and holds the tie-breaker.<\/p>\n
The Magic must finish strong to try and at least finish eighth, which would give them two cracks to make it out of the play-in tournament.<\/p>\n
They must beat the Kings, who won\u2019t have point guard Russell Westbrook in the lineup and haven\u2019t had would-be starters Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray or Zach LaVine in the mix for weeks. DeMar DeRozan will be out there, but the rest of the Sacramento roster is extremely inexperienced.<\/p>\n
The Hornets just defeated the same group the Magic will face on Thursday 134-90.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Check that, Precious Achiuwa may suit up after missing the game in Charlotte, but he\u2019d have to be Victor Wembanyama to make a huge difference given what Sacramento delivered the other night.<\/p>\n
Suggs may play, feeling better after missing the past two losses due to an illness, but that only ramps up the need to end this skid now.\u00a0Or else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Weltman gave Mosley a vote of confidence just weeks ago, but that shouldn\u2019t matter. Orlando just won seven consecutive games from March 3-14. That shouldn\u2019t matter either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pressure to make change hits boiling point for Orlando front office<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re Weltman, you can\u2019t watch your team lose to the Kings in their current form, look yourself in the mirror and say, things are going to be ok. That would be gross incompetence.<\/p>\n