On the Lookout: Jazz to put home win streak on the line vs. Magic

The Orlando Magic will try to perform their biggest magic trick this season and get a win against the rampaging Utah Jazz on Sunday. 

It’s no secret that the Magic are in another rebuilding phase after their fire sale at the trade deadline. They traded away key players and acquired assets in the hopes of starting something new.

Glimpses of Orlando’s new age may have come a little sooner than expected as the team is 2-2 since the trade deadline. After losing to the Portland Trail Blazers and putting up a close fight against the LA Lakers, the Magic have won two straight. They stunned the LA Clippers before outlasting the New Orleans Pelicans in overtime on Friday. 

Rebuilding teams ideally look ahead to the offseason and pick potential stars in the draft. However, that doesn’t mean the pieces that they currently have are simply going to fold. The young Magic players are all hungry, eager to prove to the organization and to the rest of the teams that they belong in the league. 

Newly acquired big man Wendell Carter Jr. was a solid player for the Chicago Bulls and it seems that he will be a key piece for Orlando in the future. In the win against the Pelicans, he put up 21 points on 61.1 percent shooting and pulled down 12 rebounds. Players like Dwayne Bacon, Chasson Randle, and Chuma Okeke aren’t household names but they’re all budding talent waiting for their shot. 

The Magic are in full rebuild mode and everyone’s trying to figure out who will be part of the team’s direction moving forward. And with a 17-31 record, it seems like they’re going to wing it every game and see if they have a chance to come out on top. 

That being said, the Magic are going to have their hands full as they visit Salt Lake City where the unforgiving and unrelenting Jazz have won a franchise-record 21 consecutive home games. The league leaders are on a tear again, winners of eight straight, while boasting their 37-11 record. 

The Jazz’s latest victim was the Chicago Bulls who now have a pair of stars in Nikola Vucecic and Zach LaVine. 

Donovan Mitchell fired 26 points and dished out five dimes while Rudy Gobert tallied a double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds as the Jazz had an answer for every Bulls run in the fourth quarter. 

The Jazz consistently find ways to win and Saturday’s game was another demonstration of the team’s dexterity. The Bulls manhandled the Jazz in the paint, outscoring them 68-40. But on the flip side, Mitchell and company had the edge in 3-pointers and free throws. The Jazz are absolutely relentless. 

Can the Magic pull a rabbit out of a hat and come up with one of the biggest upsets this season or will it be another routinary win for the Jazz? Catch the game at 9:00 AM on TV5.