Since becoming an NBA team back in 1989, the Orlando Magic have made the playoffs 15 times.
However, the franchise has yet to win a championship. Despite having a few Hall of Famers play for the team, the Magic are still searching for that first elusive title in franchise history.
Orlando fans thought Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O'Neal were going to deliver them one, but the Houston Rockets swept the Magic in the 1995 NBA Finals.
Tracy McGrady did all he could for the Magic, but Orlando never even won a playoff series with T-Mac, who finished his Magic career with stellar averages of 28.1 points per game. It's really a shame Orlando wasn't able to surround McGrady with another superstar talent.
Once Dwight Howard got drafted by Orlando with the first overall pick in the 2004 draft, the Magic's luck began to change. Howard was a force in the NBA as soon as he stepped foot on the court. He led Orlando to the playoffs in his third season with the club, where the Magic got swept by the Detroit Pistons.
Howard led the Magic to the second round in the 2008 playoffs, where Orlando once again fell to the Pistons. It wasn't until the 2008-09 season when Howard was finally able to lead the franchise to the NBA Finals.
The Magic won 59 games during the 2008-09 season. They averaged 101.0 points per game, which was good for 10th in the NBA. Orlando was also an elite defensive team. Led by Howard, the Magic gave up only 94.4 points a night.
Dwight was now the best big man in the NBA. He averaged 20.6 points and 13.8 rebounds for the Magic in the regular season. Head coach Stan Van Gundy surrounded Howard with four shooters and Orlando had arguably the toughest offense to guard in the league.
LeBron James won the regular-season MVP award, but Howard would get the best of The King in the playoffs. As the third seed, the Magic started the 2009 postseason with a 4-2 series win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Orlando followed that up with a tough seven-game series win over the Boston Celtics in the second round. Rashard Lewis led the Magic in scoring at 20.4 points per contest.
The 2009 Eastern Conference Finals was the matchup everyone wanted to see. LeBron vs. Howard to decide who gets to play in the NBA Finals. Basketball fans around the world were ready for this series to start.
Orlando almost took a commanding 2-0 series lead by winning Games 1 and 2 in Cleveland. However, LeBron hit a game-winning buzzer-beater in Game 2 to tie the series up. Still, the Magic had accomplished their goal and stole home-court advantage.
LeBron was a monster this entire series. He averaged 38.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 8.0 assists. However, Howard just had the perfect shooting weapons around him, which made it so difficult to double-team him in the post because you didn't want to leave guys like Lewis, Hedo Türkoğlu, Mickaël Piétrus, Courtney Lee and J.J. Redick open from the perimeter.
Just like the Magic had no answers for LeBron, the Cavs couldn't do anything with Howard and Co. Howard put up 25.8 points and 13.0 rebounds and the Magic eliminated James and the Cavs to advance to the Finals for just the second time in franchise history.
To deliver the Magic its first-ever ring, Howard was going to have to defeat Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals. Orlando was no doubt confident going in since it had just defeated LeBron.
However, Kobe and the Lakers were a different animal. Bryant poured in 40 points in Game 1 and L.A. demolished Orlando by a final score of 100-75. Some pundits were ready to call the series over since it appeared the Magic were too star stark and young to compete on this stage.
The Magic, however, didn't fold. They put up a strong fight in Game 2, but wound up losing by five. Lewis tried his best to will Orlando to a win. The stretch power forward finished the contest with 34 points.
Games 3, 4 and 5 were in Orlando. The NBA Finals were still using the 2-3-2 format at this time. Howard and the Magic were able to get back in the series by winning Game 3, but Kobe and the Lakers just had too much depth and talent.
The Purple and Gold wrapped up the 2009 Finals in five games. Howard's magical season was over, but there was no reason for him or his Magic teammates to hang their heads. They had a special year and just ran into The Black Mamba.
The Magic made the playoffs last season for the first time since the 2011-12 season, which was the final campaign of the Howard era. Hopefully, the franchise can get back to the Finals one day and win one for the city of Orlando.
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