The week ahead for the Magic, and the Magic's free throw shooting woes

The Magic begin this week with a 14-4 record, 8-2 on the road and 6-2 at home, in first place in the SE 1 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta, and have the best record in the East, 1/2 game ahead of Boston and 1 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta and Cleveland. Only two other NBA teams have a better winning percentage than the Magic, and they are both from the Western Conference: Phoenix (14-3) and the LA Lakers (13-3). It should be noted that the Lakers have played 12 home games already and just 4 away games.

The Magic play only 2 games in the next 8 days:

Wednesday, Dec. 2: vs New York (3-14, 2-6 road)
Saturday, Dec. 5: at Golden State (5-10, 3-3 home)

It's been a very busy first month of the season, as only three other teams have played as many games as the Magic. The Magic will welcome the five days without a game this week.

The Magic's free throw problems have really worsened the last 4 games. In those 4 games, the Magic have shot 64 out of 109 on free throws, a dismal 58.7%. Even when you take out Dwight Howard's FT percentage those 4 games, the rest of the team has struggled also. Howard shot 23 of 45 on free throws in that span, while the rest of the Magic shot 41 of 64, just a 64.1% clip at the line.

For the season, the Magic are shooting 67.5% on free throws, but if you subtract Howard's free throw shooting, the Magic are shooting a more respectable 74.8% on free throws. During the last 4 games, the Magic, not counting Howard, are shooting 10 percentage points worse than their season free throw percentage.

The fact the Magic won 3 of those 4 games is encouraging, and a testament to how well they are doing other things, despite such a mediocre performance from the free throw line; but the Magic, including Dwight, have got to get better from the free throw line if they hope to advance to another NBA Finals.