50 Days to Tip Off: The actual tip off

Believe it or not, we are less than one month away from the first Magic preseason game. Orlando will open training camp on October 1 and open the preseason in Mexico City against New Orleans on October 7. So how will we get ready? By counting down to the beginning of the season on November 2 against Denver. Let's continue:

 

Nothing says tip off like reminiscing about the first NBA game. It was a long time ago... back in 1946 when the Toronto Huskies played the New York Knicks on November 1 in Toronto.

The Huskies got 7,090 fans to fill the SkyDome for the Knicks' 68-66. Sam Goldaper of NBA.com has a really detailed look at that first game and first season from back in 1996 (the league's 50th anniversary... also coincidentally the season Mitchell & Ness chose as the basis for their vintage Magic warmup jacket that was on sale on NBA.com... which is awesome).

Just take a look at how different basketball was back then.

50 days left!

55: Laron Profit, or how we got Jameer Nelson ... 54: Horace Grant, it's got to be the goggles! ... 53: Shaq's 53-point game and the 1994 scoring race ... 52: Patriotic ... 51: Otis Smith, the Legend.