NBA Power Rankings week 12: injury fallout, OKC Thunder highs and lows

Orlando Magic:

Offense: (104.8)  27th
Defense: (104.9)  5th
Net: (minus -0.1) 14th

Games Week 12 (2-1): Won vs. Nets: 101-89, Wizards: 123-89, Lost vs. Suns: 94-98
Games Week 13 (4 games): Mon at Kings | Weds at Lakers | Thurs at Clippers | Sat at Warriors

With the loss of Jonathan Isaac, the logical thinking would be the Magic’s defense would take a hit as the lanky forward is the key cog in their defensive system.

But inexplicably the Magic improved (slightly) without him. Less surprising was the improvement on the offensive side of the court. Orlando has always been a somewhat streaky team so this could be one of those stretches combined with a lucky scheduling run.

Week 13 they’ll get a mix of two upper tier clubs (Lakers/Clippers) and two lower-tier seeds (Kings/Warriors).

The loss to the Suns was indicative of how the Magic fail to capture wins on the road where they are 5-13 and that game marked the first of a six-game road trip. Moreover, the Magic will play 12 if their next 21 on the road so the initial success the club has experienced without Isaac might be an outlier. Isaac isn’t expected back until mid-March.

The goal for the club is to stay in the mix for one of those bottom playoff berths and build down the stretch. Lest we forget, the Magic were the most difficult of the bottom seeds entering last postseason and will be a tough out if they can grab the eighth or seventh seed.