Looking ahead to the month of January for the Magic

by Mike from Illinois on Jan 2, 2011 3:13 AM EST

The Orlando Magic started December on a very promising note with resounding road wins at Chicago and Detroit, but then the stomach virus tore through the team and a very bad road trip ensued which was part of an eight losses in nine games stretch. Two blockbuster trades on the 18th were made which saw Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, Mickael Pietrus, and Marcin Gortat depart and Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson, Gilbert Arenas, and Earl Clark arrive.

The Magic finished the roller-coaster month of December at 8-8, for an overall record of 21-12. For the month, the Magic were 3-3 (12-5 overall) at home and 5-5 (9-7 overall) on the road. The Magic were 4-6 against teams that are currently at or above .500, and 4-2 against teams currently under .500. After 33 games last season, the Magic were 24-9.

This month's schedule is not nearly as difficult as last month's was, but the Magic will still have their share of tough games, including a challenging five game road trip from the 8th through the 17th, with four of the games against very tough teams. The Magic play 16 games in 29 days with 7 home games and 9 road games. Seven of those 16 games will be against teams currently at or above .500, but only one of those games will be played at home while the other six are on the road.

Home: 3) GS; 5) MIL; 7) HOU ; 19) PHI; 21) TOR; 24) DET; 30) CLE

Road: 8) @ DAL; 12) @ NO; 13) @ OKC; 15) @ MIN; 17) @ BOS; 22) @ HOU; 26) @ IND; 28) @ CHI; 31) @ MEM

The Magic have four sets of back-to-backs this month, with the second game of all four back-to-backs on the road.

Last January, the Magic finished 9-8 for an overall record of 32-16. This January, with the team currently on a five game winning streak and team chemistry improving significantly since the trades, I predict the Magic will go 7-0 at home and 4-5 on the road for an 11-5 record and 32-17 overall.

This FanPost was made by a member of the Orlando Pinstriped Post community, and is to be treated as the opinions and views of its author, not that of the blogger or blog community as a whole.

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Things to look for this month

-Will Otis Smith make a trade for a backup center as we get closer to the trade deadline?
-Can Dwight Howard significantly cut down on his technical fouls?
-Will Coach Van Gundy stick with the eight-man rotation that has worked very well in the five game winning streak?
-Can J.J. Redick continue his lights-out shooting, which featured him shooting over 56% on three pointers last month?
-How will the Magic fare against Eastern Conference contenders Boston and Chicago, with both games on the road. Celtics should have Rajon Rondo back, and may have Kevin Garnett back also. Bulls have won 12 of their last 14 games with Derrick Rose playing at an All-Star level and Carlos Boozer also playing very well while Joakim Noah is out until March.

Chicago Bears... 2010 NFC North Champions... Go Bears!
Chicago Blackhawks... 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Champions
Orlando Magic... 2009 NBA Eastern Conference Champions

by Mike from Illinois on Jan 2, 2011 3:27 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

Excellent outlining, Mike.

With a very conservative prediction – I think NOH and OKC are not barn burners now – you still put us at a comparable pace with last year. Therefore the question is where the team could have been if we were not hit with illness – not to forget injuries – assuming that the old guard could have achieved basically the same results? That assumption is not far fetched – and I may even say they could have done better – since the worse they could do was to lose to SA and BOS, but they could have won PHI and ATL games.

by Matt1325 on Jan 2, 2011 8:35 AM EST up reply actions

I was just reading this in ESPN's Daily Dime

“The NBA’s first key date of 2011, when it comes to player movement, comes Wednesday.

That’s when teams are allowed to start signing free agents to 10-day contracts … and when players with contracts that aren’t fully guaranteed must be released in time to clear waivers by Jan. 7.

Jan. 7, you see, is the NBA’s final business day before Jan. 10. And that’s the date contracts for any player on an NBA roster become guaranteed for the rest of the season.

So …

There are 38 players, by our count, who either must be waived by Wednesday or will know they’ll be receiving their 2010-11 salaries in full. (And there are a few names on the following list — such as Boston’s Delonte West, Golden State’s Reggie Williams, Miami’s Erick Dampier and Milwaukee’s Luc Richard Mbah a Moute — who obviously have nothing to sweat.)

Atlanta: Damien Wilkins
Boston: Von Wafer* and Delonte West Chicago: John Lucas III
Cleveland: Alonzo Gee, Manny Harris* and Samardo Samuels*
Dallas: Brian Cardinal and Steve Novak*
Denver: Melvin Ely and Gary Forbes
Golden State: Rodney Carney*, Acie Law, Jeremy Lin* and Reggie Williams
Houston: Ishmael Smith*
Indiana: A.J. Price*
L.A. Clippers: Jarron Collins and Ike Diogu
Miami: Erick Dampier

Milwaukee: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Brian Skinner
Minnesota: Sundiata Gaines
New Orleans: D.J. Mbenga* and Pops Mensah-Bonsu
New York: Shawne Williams
Phoenix: Garret Siler*
Portland: Sean Marks and Patrick Mills
Sacramento: Darnell Jackson
San Antonio: Chris Quinn and Ime Udoka
Toronto: Ronald Dupree and Sonny Weems
Utah: Jeremy Evans*
Washington: Lester Hudson, Cartier Martin and Hamady N’Diaye"

Definitely looking forward for that date – I think someone like Mbenga or Melvin Ely would be decent signings. Just for the record, both players have been involved in championship teams.

by RL Magic on Jan 2, 2011 8:12 AM EST reply actions 2 recs

Very nice dig. Thank you. Here is a rec for you.

by Matt1325 on Jan 2, 2011 8:21 AM EST up reply actions

Funny how our hardest games are on the road.

With that said, I think the Magic can go 13-3 this month but I don’t see any worse than 11-5 though. I think we’ll win a couple against the harder teams and lose a one or two to some lesser teams to even it out. The three days off between NYK and GSW should have helped tremendously with chemistry.

We have Clark Kent and Superman on the same team!

JJ Redick has become Captain Clutch!

Ryno's back and doing his thing!

Bass Master looking like a new player this year!

Gilbert Arenas making things happen off the bench!

J-Rich giving the offense some life!

Turkish Jordan is back and looking like a stud again!

Meer being Stan's extension on the court!

by GameManager on Jan 2, 2011 12:30 PM EST reply actions

I'll 2nd you're 13-3 GM and, ever the eternal optimist, I'll even say 14-2 is possible . . .

With the losses coming @ Bos (if KG and Rondo are back) and @ Chi (since they’re on a roll lately and probably have a chip on their shoulders)

We definitely should be able to win those home games and the only other tough road games I see are Dallas, OKC and possibly NOH. Dallas is a hot mess without Dirk (dunno if he’ll be back) & they just lost Butler and OKC isn’t playing so hot lately. NOH seems like a wild card team depending on which team shows up.

If the Magic can get out of January ahead of last year’s team, then we realistically still have a shot @ 60ish games and 1st place in the East/Southeast; which would be unbelievable considering how abysmal December was . . .

Looking forward to this month & GO MAGIC!!!

P.S. Thanks for doing this Mike as I’d been wanting to do a January record prediction thread myself!

R.I.P. Peaches . . . Your love for the Magic was only eclipsed by your love for untimely turnovers.

by blue-blood on Jan 2, 2011 3:22 PM EST reply actions

All of a sudden, injury issues start sprouting (Bass, Arenas)

by RL Magic on Jan 3, 2011 1:03 AM EST reply actions

What happened to Arenas?

who would of thought we would be arguably the greatest of all time
around here we developed such a sound down here
but duplicate it off the steel it can only be found here

by 4QB on Jan 3, 2011 1:44 AM EST up reply actions