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1995–96 Orlando Magic season

NBA professional basketball team season From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The 1995–96 NBA season was the Magic's seventh season in the National Basketball Association.[1] During the off-season, the Magic signed free agent Jon Koncak.[2][3] Coming off their trip to the NBA Finals, where they were swept in four games by the Houston Rockets, the Magic started the regular season without Shaquille O'Neal, who missed the first 22 games due to a preseason thumb injury.[4][5][6][7] Penny Hardaway stepped up in O'Neal's absence, and was awarded Player of the Month for November,[8] as the Magic got off to a 13–2 start, and later held a 34–14 record at the All-Star break.[9] At mid-season, the team traded Jeff Turner to the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies in exchange for Kenny Gattison, who never played for the Magic due to arm and neck injuries.[10][11][12] The Magic won their second straight Atlantic Division title with a 60–22 record, a regular season record which still stands as the best in franchise history.[13]

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Hardaway averaged 21.7 points, 7.1 assists and 2.0 steals per game, and was named to the All-NBA First Team, while O'Neal averaged 26.6 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game in 54 games, and was named to the All-NBA Third Team, and three-point specialist Dennis Scott contributed 17.5 points per game, and led the league with 267 three-point field goals, a single-season record since broken by Stephen Curry; Scott also set a then-record of 11 three-point field goals in a 119–104 home win against the Atlanta Hawks on April 18, 1996.[14][15][16] In addition, Horace Grant provided the team with 13.4 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, while Nick Anderson provided with 14.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game along with 168 three-point field goals, and Brian Shaw contributed 6.6 points and 4.5 assists per game off the bench.[17]

Hardaway and O'Neal were both selected for the 1996 NBA All-Star Game in San Antonio, Texas.[18][19][20][21] Hardaway also finished in third place in Most Valuable Player voting, while O'Neal finished tied in ninth place;[22][23][24][25][26] Grant finished tied in eighth place in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and Scott finished tied in eighth place in Most Improved Player voting.[25][26] This was also the only season of O'Neal's NBA career, where he hit his only career three-pointer in a 121–91 home win against the Milwaukee Bucks on February 16, 1996.[27][28][29]

Despite the franchise best record, the Magic were beaten by the top seed in the East, the dominant Chicago Bulls, who finished with a then all-time best record of 72–10. In the playoffs, the Magic would sweep the Detroit Pistons in three straight games in the Eastern Conference First Round.[30][31][32][33] In the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, they defeated the 6th-seeded Hawks in five games,[34][35][36][37] despite losing Game 4 to the Hawks at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, 104–99.[38][39][40]

The Eastern Conference Finals matched up the Magic with the Bulls, the team they had eliminated in the previous year's playoffs. However, Grant went down with an elbow injury in Game 1, which the Magic lost on the road, 121–83, and he was out for the rest of the series.[41][42][43] The Magic suffered another painful blow when Anderson went down with a wrist injury in a 86–67 home loss in Game 3, and he was also out for the rest of the series.[44][45][46] The Bulls would be too strong as they swept the Magic in four straight games.[47][48][49][50] Thereby, the Magic became the first team to be eliminated from the playoffs in a sweep for three consecutive seasons since the 1950 Chicago Stags. The Bulls would defeat the Seattle SuperSonics in six games in the NBA Finals, winning their fourth championship in six years.[51][52][53][54][55]

Following the season, the All-Star center O'Neal left the team, signing as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers after four seasons in Orlando,[56][57][58][59][60] and Gattison and Anthony Bowie were both released to free agency.

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Draft picks

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Roster

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Roster Notes

  • Power forward Kenny Gattison was acquired by the Magic from the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies in a mid-season trade, but did not play for the Magic due to arm, and neck injuries he sustained with the Grizzlies.
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Regular season

Season standings

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Record vs. opponents

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Playoffs

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The Magic opened up their playoffs campaign on April 26 against the Detroit Pistons, a game they won convincingly 112–92 at home in the Orlando Arena. The Magic would also win Game 2 at home before clinching the series, and a sweep, of the Pistons in Game 3 away from home at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

The second round put the Magic against the Atlanta Hawks. The Magic opened the series with two convincing wins at home, both with scoring margins greater than 20 points. The Magic carried this momentum into Game 3 away from home at the Omni, winning a closer fought match 102–96. The Hawks won Game 4, avoiding the sweep, but the Magic were too strong and won Game 5 at home to clinch the series 4–1.

The Eastern Conference finals saw the Magic face the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan, a team they had eliminated in the previous years playoffs. With Horace Grant out with an elbow injury from Game 1, the dominant Chicago Bulls would prove to be too strong for the Orlando this year, sweeping the series 4-0 and denying the Magic consecutive trips to the NBA finals.[47]

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Player statistics

Regular season

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  • Denotes player spent time with another team in the season. Stats reflect time with the Magic only.

Playoffs

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Awards and honors

League records

During the 1995–96 season, Dennis Scott set the record for most three-point field goals scored in a regular season with 267.[citation needed]

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References

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