The Orlando Magic passed their post-All-Star-break test, winning three of four games across a Western Conference road trip. Now, the Magic will continue their grinding schedule on Thursday night against the Houston Rockets to start a four-game homestand.
Orlando finished its final West Coast trip of the season with a two-point victory over the Los Angeles Clippers and a one-point triumph over the Lakers. As coach Jamahl Mosley’s team continues to try to fight its way out of the play-in conversation, the Magic might be playing their best basketball ahead of the regular season’s home stretch.
“I’m proud of our guys having the resiliency and the focus and the toughness and the togetherness to continue to stay in the fight and know exactly what we needed to do on this backstretch,” Mosley said of winning back-to-back games in Los Angeles. “We need to take this momentum and go back home to our fans. We know how supportive they are. Our building is going to be rocking.”
Orlando sits a half-game back of the Philadelphia 76ers for the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference and leads the No. 8 Miami Heat by a game. The top six teams in each conference will make the playoffs. Seeds seven through 10 will head to the play-in tournament.
The Magic are 17-9 at home this season.
Leading Orlando’s hot stretch has been Paolo Banchero, who averaged 27.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game on the team’s trip. Banchero, the Magic’s leading scorer at an average of 21.8 points per game, scored 36 in a 110-109 win against the Lakers on Tuesday.
“We’ve been in a lot of close games this year since the start of the season,” Banchero said. “I think having that experience — winning some, losing some — has helped us a lot to stay poised. … We’ve got to take this back home to Orlando and build on this stretch, play some really inspired basketball. Play really tough.”
Houston will begin a three-game road trip following consecutive victories over the lowly Utah Jazz and Sacramento Kings. Winners in three of four since the All-Star break, the Rockets will look to strengthen their hold on the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference in the second half of a back-to-back set on Thursday.
“We’d like to play consistent regardless of who we’re playing against,” said Houston coach Ime Udoka, who was able to rest his starters late in Wednesday’s 31-point win over Sacramento. “It’s not going to be a perfect game the whole time, but to get (the starters) out in the fourth quarter, that was really good.”
Second-year shooting guard Reed Sheppard has 12 3-pointers across Houston’s past two double-digit wins. Sheppard connected on a career-high seven triples in the team’s win on Wednesday — a mark the 21-year-old wasn’t focused on.
“I don’t care. I don’t care at all,” Sheppard said of the career night. “It’s fun to go out and have a big game. You want to play the best you can, but that’s never on my mind. Winning and making the right play and doing all the right stuff is the biggest thing.”
Sheppard is averaging 12.9 points per game, an increase of 8.5 points from his rookie campaign.
