NBA reveals Magic second-half schedule
Orlando opens at Miami on March 11 and faces league’s third-toughest opponents based on cumulative win percentage.
The Orlando Magic have some ground to make up to reach the playoffs for a third consecutive season thanks to injury setbacks, but the second-half schedule released by the NBA won’t make it easy.
The Magic will open the second half the same way they did the first half — facing the Miami Heat. The teams are set to meet March 11 at AmericanAirlines Arena as the second-half schedule gets under way.
Orlando then will travel to San Antonio on March 12 to complete a back-to-back road set.
The Magic’s first home game of the second half will be March 14 against the Heat with a 7 p.m. tipoff. The teams met in the season opener at Amway Center — a 113-107 victory for Orlando — but have not played since.
Before Orlando (13-19) can begin its second-half push to earn a playoff bid, the Magic have four games remaining in its first-half
schedule. The Magic visit Barclays Center Thursday to take on the Brooklyn Nets. The game tips off at 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Florida.
The Nets, who are leading the league in scoring (121.2 ppg), have won seven straight games and have climbed to second in the Eastern Conference with a 21-12 record. Brooklyn beat Orlando 122-115 when the teams met Jan. 16.
The Magic will then close the first half of the season with home games against Utah, Dallas and Atlanta.
Orlando’s journey won’t get any easier after the All-Star break. Orlando will have the third-hardest second-half schedule based on current cumulative opponent winning percentages.
The Magic will end up playing 42 games against the Eastern Conference and 30 games against the Western Conference to reach the 72 games on the regular-season schedule.
Magic coach Steve Clifford said before the season started that he’s learned there is no need to get caught up in the schedule and how it might or might not play out. He said every team will have three or four portions of a schedule where travel or back-to-back sets will be especially challenging.
“You can’t overreact to the schedule,” Clifford said.
The second-half schedule includes the remainder of each team’s 72 games not scheduled in the first half, as well as any games that were postponed during the first half. The Magic had 37 games scheduled in the first half, but their Jan. 13 contest against the Celtics was postponed by COVID-19 issues. That game is on the secondhalf schedule.
Orlando will play eight back-toback contests, with three road sets, three home sets and two homeroad sets.
The Magic’s longest homestand of the second half will be four games from April 7-12, with two three-game home sets March 23-26 and April 22-26. Orlando has a challenging five-game road trip from March 28-April 4 that will start with consecutive games against the Lakers and Clippers and end with a back-to-back set against the Jazz and Nuggets. The contest in Denver is scheduled to be on NBA TV.
Orlando’s final home game of the regular season will be May 9 against Minnesota and its final regular-season game will be May 16 in Philadelphia. That contest will close a four-game road trip and be the second game of a two-game set against the 76ers.
Six of the Magic’s nine games in May will be away from Amway. In fact, they’ll play eight of their final 10 games on the road.
The Magic are among the 14 teams allowing a limited number of fans at games and that will not change for the second half. A limited number of tickets are available to the general public on a game-bygame basis. For more information, call 407-89-MAGIC or go to OrlandoMagic.com/tickets.