Exploring four teams that will likely come crashing down after an unlikely hot start to the season.
A little more than a month into the 2023-24 NBA regular season and there have been more than a few early-season surprises. Specifically for a few teams, there are some that are drastically playing above even some of the most optimistic of early-season expectations.
The bit question for many of those teams is whether or not that ends up being sustainable or not. And over the next few weeks, that's something that's going to be very telling one way or another. As we enter into the thick of the season, we'll begin to explore four teams that seem to be destined to fall back to reality a bit over the next few weeks.
Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic have had one of their best starts to the season in recent history. They're currently 12-5 and tied with the Milwaukee Bucks as the second seed in the Eastern Conference. As much as I want to believe in the Magic's hot start to the season, it would be foolish to say this is something we should get used to. Yes, the Magic have had an encouraging first month of the season but this is far from sustainable. And we'd be setting them up for failure if we said it was.
Over the next few weeks, Orlando's schedule begins to toughen up a bit. On the horizon, the Magic will have to face off against the likes of Cleveland Boston (twice), Miami, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia. We're going to find out a lot about the Magic during the month of December. I just think we're going to see the Magic fall off a bit.