| 22 August 2010
The Amway Center is set to open its doors to basketball on October 10 for a preseason game between the Magic and the Hornets. The regular season starts October 28 as Orlando takes on Washington. With the countdown on to the premier of the Magic's new building, I thought it would be good to give Orlando Arena a proper send-off and recount some of the best memories from our old home.
We are t-minus 67 days until regular season basketball in the Amway Center!
I promise this will not be the last moment that includes Michael Jordan (I think you all know which moment I am talking about). But as a bit of foreshadowing, Jordan's first trip to Orlando Arena was also not a very productive one for the player many consider to be the game's greatest.
And for all those young Magic fans, Otis Smith was not always a quiet, constantly scheming general manager. First he was a quiet, constantly scheming player. Arguably the best player on the franchise's inaugural team.
But any time Jordan came to the O-Rena, there was a different buzz about the place (well, any time he came to any arena I guess there was a buzz). But you never forget your first time. And Jordan's first time was one of the many classic games the Orlando Arena saw in its first year.
Jordan scored 52 points in that first game in Orlando. 52! How lucky could these young Magic fans be? And why the hell couldn't anyone -- I am looking at you Mark Acres and Nick Anderson -- defend Jordan that night? Watching those highlights above is like watching a high school player dominating a bunch of six-year-olds. Oh wait, that is typically what Jordan did.
But what that highlight above does not show is what happened at the end.
Jordan's last field goal put Chicago up by one with about seven seconds to play. The Magic had led most of the game (as you can gather from the highlights) and watched their lead crumble away to "His Airness" like a good little expansion team should. But Matt Guokas and Orlando had one more trick (pun intended) up their sleeves.
Otis Smith drove past Jordan and Scottie Pippen to make a layup with two seconds to play, giving Orlando a 120-119 win. Jordan missed a shot -- curious that highlight was not included above -- and the Magic got a euphoric win against one of the NBA's best playing at his best.
In fact, it was the first time Orlando had scored a game-winning basket with less than 10 seconds to play. A BIG franchise first.
Orlando improved to just 9-15 on the year but had already beaten six teams from the 1989 Playoffs, including a home win over the Lakers. Smith was not too shabby himself in this game, scoring 28 points and playing 38 minutes off the bench.
This was the first of several bad memories for Jordan inside Amway Arena.
We will be reminiscing about Orlando Arena for the rest of the summer. Have a memory you would like remembered? Tweet us with your memories @OMagicDaily, comment to this article or contact us through the Web site.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
