Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic isn't giving up on the team's bid to make the playoffs just yet.
Despite the Magic being seven games behind .500 with a 19-27 record, they still have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs. Orlando is only four games behind the eighth-seeded Charlotte Hornets, keeping the postseason berth an achievable target.
Nikola Vucevic acknowledged there's still a chance for them to make it, but he pointed out that every game is now a must-win for the Magic.
“We’re (eight) games under .500 and it’s still not over,” Vucevic told John Denton of NBA.com. “We’re three or four games out and things can turn around quickly, but it has to be done. If we keep losing and keep sliding and there’s too much of a gap, the teams in front of us aren’t going to lose that many games. It’ll be hard for us to go on, like, a 10 or 11-game winning streak. We have to do it right now. Every game, we have to bring it and play at our best for 48 minutes and try to win as many games as we can until the (All-Star) break.”
After earning impressive victories against the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets, Orlando found themselves in a three-game losing streak. Overall, the team has lost seven of their last ten games.
With tomorrow's game against the Atlanta Hawks, Vucevic sees a great opportunity to start the team's turnaround.
“Next game in Atlanta is big for us and the one after that (too) because we can’t keep digging ourselves such a hole. This is it for us. Every game for us on the board is like a Game 7. We don’t have any margin for error any more. This is it for us and this is our season. So, we either show that we’re built to do this or not. So, we’ll see how we all react.”
In his eight years in the NBA, Vucevic has only seen postseason action once. He was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers that lost to the Boston Celtics in the second round of the playoffs in 2012. He was then traded to the Magic after that campaign.
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