Orlando Magic Open Season Tonight

The Orlando Magic travel to San Antonio to take on the Spurs as the NBA season begins.

Pre-Season Magic

A spark of hope entered Orlando as the last NBA season came to a close. The team was looking much better than they had in recent years. This was mostly due to the rise of star players on the team, such as Mo Bamba and Dwayne Bacon. Bacon parted ways with the Magic after leading most of their stats last season. Bacon’s loss, as well as Nikola Vucevic was extremely detrimental to the Magic. They showed signs of struggle in the pre-season, losing three of their four games.

Luckily, the Magic and the Spurs did meet in the preseason, and it was the closest game in the Magic’s series. This gave head coach Jamahl Mosley a chance to look at San Antonio and figure out a game plan. If the Magic can shut down Point Guard Djounte Murray, they may be able to pull ahead and seal a win.

Key Players

The matchup tonight will be heavily dependent on two players: Terrence Ross and Markelle Fultz. These two combine for a combined 28.5 points per game. Ross in particular has been deadly with the ball, averaging 15.6 PPG. He is also a proficient field goal shooter, with a 41.2% completion rate. Fultz is just as skilled, putting up nearly 13 points a game. With these two paired up on the court, the San Antonio defense is going to need to raise their awareness.

As stated before Djounte Murray is the star for the Spurs, and needs to be a key player on the Magic defense’s mind. Murray averaged 15.7 PPG, but was much more proficient on defense. He led San Antonio’s defense in steals last season, and this will most likely be the Magic’s biggest roadblock. If Orlando’s  offense can figure a way to move around Murray, the game should go towards the Magic.

extra! extra! pic.twitter.com/6UN1M18AMs

— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) October 20, 2021

Tip off is at 8:30pm on Wednesday, Oct. 20 at AT&T Center.