NBA Power Rankings week 10: OKC Thunder vault up ladder

Orlando Magic:

Offense: (104.5 ) – 26th
Defense: (106.6) –  12th
Net: (minus -2.1) – 20th

Games Week 10 (2-1):  Won vs Bulls 103-95, 76ers 98-97, Lost to Bucks 100-111
Games Week 11 (4 games): Mon vs Hawks | Weds at Wizards | Fri vs. Heat | Sat vs. Jazz

The Magic are befuddling as they almost seem to be on the precipice of breaking through one week and then like their name suggests ‘poof’ the offense magically disappears. Albeit, facing top tier defenses doesn’t make it any easier. That they beat the 76ers (or rather hung on to win) speaks to how much their defense dictates their identity.

This week they’ll have the opportunity to pad their record and potentially find that missing offense especially early in the week against the Hawks and Wizards.

A trio of players to keep an eye on when it comes to finding offensive consistency:

• Aaron Gordon who is dealing with a sore Achilles which might be the reason why he’s been so inconsistent.
• Evan Fournier who can make or break the results of each game. He’s producing career high scoring and 3-point shooting. In the 14 games he’s played to this point in  December he’s reached double-digit scoring in all but one (Bulls) and hit 20 or more on seven occasions.
• Terrence Ross is a streaky shooter who could pull off 10 games of lights out perimeter offense or conversely fall into a cold spell. He’s shooting 33 percent from the perimeter (the second lowest of his career) but is a career 37.1 percent sniper.