By SAM
GARDNER
FOXSportsFlorida.com
Magic writer
Jan. 18,
2011
For the second straight season, the Orlando Magic are 26-15 at the halfway point, and both teams endured their fair share of adversity on the way to the midway mark.
Last year's team started the season off 17-4 and then 24-8 before dropping seven of nine at the beginning of January. This year's squad got off to a 15-4 start before losing eight of nine during the middle part of December.
Near the end of this season's skid, Orlando general manager Otis Smith made two blockbuster trades that reshaped the Magic rotation, and his new-look team went on to win a franchise-record-tying nine straight games to get them back above water before they lost three of four on a tough road swing that ended Monday night in Boston.
There are a lot of similarities between the two teams when you watch them play. The game starts and ends with center Dwight Howard in the middle, with Orlando spreading the floor around him. And the Magic always bring a defensive intensity that has become a trademark in head coach Stan Van Gundy's system.
But it's not until you start looking at the stats that you see exactly how similar these two teams are, and how far they have to go until they reach the level of the 2008-09 NBA Finals team (which, for the record, was 33-8 at the halfway point of the season).
We'll start with defense.
