The week ahead for the Magic

The Magic begin the week at about the 1/3 mark of the NBA season with a record of 20-7 (10-2 home, 10-5 away), and a conference record of 15-4. The Magic lead the SE division by 1/2 game over Atlanta. At this 1/3 mark of the season, the Magic are the second seed in the East, 1/2 game ahead of Cleveland and 1 1/2 games behind top seed Boston.

The Magic play three games this week, all at home:

Dec. 21st: Utah (16-11, 5-7 road)... The Magic will try to get revenge against the Jazz after inexplicably losing a 19 point lead and being blown out at Utah two weeks ago, and being carved up by PG Deron Williams
Dec. 23rd: Houston (16-11, 9-7 road)... Tracy McGrady, who made his season debut last week, makes his return to Orlando, as the Magic have had difficulty beating the Rockets at home over the years
Dec. 25th: Boston (21-5, 12-1 road)... The Celtics have that spectacular road record, but had their 11 game winning streak snapped in a stunning loss at home to Philadelphia last week; Celtics will be looking to avenge a home loss to the Magic in November

Very tough schedule for the Magic this week, even though they are all at home; to finish 3-0 would be great, but 2-1 is more likely. Magic PG Jameer Nelson is likely to return from arthroscopic knee surgery this week.