Magic begin tough stretch with five game road trip out West

Starting tonight through January 17th, the Magic will go through the toughest part of their schedule as they play 14 of the next 21 games on the road, and 13 of those 21 games involve teams that are currently over .500.

A look at the five game road trip:

Dec. 8th... at Los Angeles Clippers (4-16, 2-9 home) 5th Pacific
Dec. 9th... at Portland (15-7, 7-0 home), 1st Northwest
Dec. 12th... at Phoenix (12-9, 5-5 home), 2nd Pacific
Dec. 13th... at Utah (13-9, 9-3 home), 3rd Northwest
Dec. 15th... at Golden State (5-15, 3-5 home), 3rd Pacific

Obviously, the two most winnable games are against the Clippers and Warriors, and I expect the Magic to win both those games. The games against the Suns and Jazz, while tough, are also winnable, but since the Utah game is the second of a back-to-back I think the Magic will split those games. The game against the TrailBlazers will be very difficult because it also will be the second game of a back-to-back for the Magic; the Blazers are unbeaten at home; and have already beaten the Magic (without rookie center Greg Oden) in Orlando. I don't expect the Magic to win this game, though I hope they can keep it competitive.

Sure, it would be great if the Magic could go 5-0 on this road trip, but I think that's too unrealistic. I would be more than satisfied with a 3-2 trip; anything better would be fantastic while anything worse would be discouraging.

It all starts tonight against the Clippers, where the Magic are listed as 4 1/2 point favorites.

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Last but not least, a very happy 23rd birthday today to Dwight Howard!