It's hard to believe, but yes the Orlando Magic sit at the very top of the Eastern Conference following a dominant 114-87 blowout of the San Antonio Spurs. This is not normal. Blowouts happen in the NBA, but what Orlando did to the Spurs was not something that happens on a normal basis. A typical blowout is led by a hot shooting night, or a case of cold stretches by the losing team. That's not what happened to San Antonio.
The Spurs were outplayed on both ends of the floor from start to finish and at no point did they look to be at the same level as Orlando.
"The Magic played a great game" said Gregg Popovich after the loss. "I thought at both ends of the floor they were the agressive team. I thought we were very sloppy, but I think their game plan was great, Coach Vogel did a good job taking us out of what we wanted to do and they did it for 48 minutes. So, I think they outplayed is in just about every facet of the game."
After a win like this, the Magic are finishing off October impressively. They've had two players score 40 points, they're one of the best offenses in the NBA, and their pace is at a top five level. More importantly, they beat the pants off of the Cavaliers and Spurs. Two teams that are expected to contend for an NBA championship. This isn't the last few year's Magic. This group feels different.
At this point the question has to be asked. Are the Magic good? Yes it's early, and there's still plenty of time to regress, but they keep winning in such an impressive way that the question is being forced out. Their only loss was in a close five point contest to the Nets who they turned around to beat two games later.
Multiple players from last season's team have mentioned they won games this season they would have lost last in the previous one. That mental toughness of knowing how to respond to adversity will be the difference in this season's squad.
"With Skiles we had an amazing start to the season until December and we were the worst team in January," Evan Fournier said after a win against the Nets. He knows the Magic have been in this situation before. "I don't wanna hear none of that. It's game 4 we still have 78 to go."
Well now it's Game 5 and and the Magic have 77 to go with a big test coming up. Orlando will finish October on the road and then, after a three-game home stand, will go on their first west coast road trip of the season. Trips out west are where average teams go to die. They stumble through a tough schedule, get blown out by good teams, and then come home unable to recover.
That will be the first true test of the Magic. If it's almost Thanksgiving and they're sitting pretty then questions about how good they are will have to be a lot more serious. However, that doesn't mean early indications should be ignored. Right now, the Magic look good and the stats say they are good. Teams don't just dominate two contenders in the opening month like this.
"It does not happen [every day]" said Bismack Biyombo. "People can say that they were missing shots but like I said in Cleveland, we were playing really, really good defense. I think that as we continue to beat all of these big teams, who knows what will happen."
The Magic have games against the Grizzlies, Celtics, and Warriors all coming up along with the rest of their schedule. If they continue to assert themselves against good teams like this then they're going to be more than just good. They could be great.
