New-Look Orlando Magic Playing Like Totally Different Team

The Orlando Magic looked like a different team Friday night in a thrilling game against the Dallas Mavericks. It was the type of game that had many saying before the season the Magic would be the NBA‘s most-watched League Pass team. It was the type of performance that has been missing from the Magic ever since the start of 2016.

The Magic almost seemed like a different team against Dallas. Though they continued the same troubling trait of giving up big leads, Orlando finally had a player who could get them much-needed buckets at the end of the game.

For one night, at least, Rob Hennigan seemed like he was right to trade Tobias Harris away and bring in Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova. He knew what few diehard Magic fans knew: Harris wasn’t a good fit in Scott Skiles‘ system, and he needed to bring in players who not only give stability to the Magic’s young nucleus but also know the system Skiles wants to implement in Orlando.

Jennings and Ilyasova were Skiles’ favorite players when he coached the Milwaukee Bucks, and he knew that those two would be just what his young team needed to make a dark horse playoff push. And on Friday night, it all came together.

The new-look Magic played with an energy and purpose rarely seen in 2016, and Orlando is going to have to carry this new-found momentum during what will be a test of the Magic’s resolve. I said a couple of days ago that the Magic came away a better team after the Harris trade, and they looked like it on Friday. Let’s hope they can keep this up and ride it to the playoffs.