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The Orlando Magic, who are 2-2 despite already playing three of last year’s top six East teams, get another test on Thursday night when they host a 2-1 Portland Trail Blazers squad that has been scoring the ball at will.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on NBC Sports Northwest (in Blazers markets) and Fox Sports Florida (in Magic markets). If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can still watch a live stream of the game (or DVR it) on your computer, phone, tablet or streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
How to Watch Blazers vs Magic Online if You’re in Market
NBC Sports Northwest (local markets) and Fox Sports Florida (local markets) are included in the main Fubo bundle, which has 85 total channels and is tailored towards sports. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of Cloud DVR (with the ability to upgrade to 500 hours), as well as a “72-Hour Lookback” feature, which allows you to watch games up to three days after they air even if you forgot to record them.
In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, including NBC Sports Northwest (local markets) and Fox Sports Florida (local markets). You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch live, “Hulu with Live TV” comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
Fox Sports Florida (local markets) is included in the “Sling Blue” channel package, but NBC Sports Northwest is not available on Sling. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch the game live on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app.
If you can’t watch live, you can get 50 hours of cloud DVR storage as an additional add-on.
How to Watch Blazers vs Magic Online if You’re Out of Market
If you live outside of the Blazers or Magic area, all out-of-market, non-nationally televised games can be watched through NBA League Pass. You can sign up and watch through a number of different platforms:
You can sign up for either NBA League Pass, which lets you watch all out-of-market games, or NBA Team Pass, which lets you watch all of one team’s games if they’re out of market. Once signed up, you’ll be able to watch games on your computer via the NBA.com website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the NBA app.
If you have FuboTV or sign up for a new subscription, you can add NBA League Pass to your channel bundle. After signing up, you’ll be able to watch games on your computer via the Fubo website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Fubo app.
If you have Sling TV or sign up for a new subscription, you can add NBA League Pass or NBA Team Pass to your channel bundle. Once signed up, you’ll be able to watch games on your computer via the Sling website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling app.
Preview
Coming into the season, one of the major question marks for the Magic was how their smattering of frontcourt options would co-exist with each other.
Well, so far, so good.
Nikola Vucevic is filling up the box score to the tune of 18.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks per night. Aaron Gordon is also averaging a double-double with 16.0 and 10.3 per game. Rookie Mo Bamba, while still raw offensively, has provided terrific rim protection off the bench with 2.0 blocks per contest. And then there’s Jonathan Isaac, who got off to a slow start to the season but exploded for 18 and 12 in the Magic’s huge win at Boston on Monday night.
“He’s a talented guy, he has a high IQ and he’s working hard,” head coach Steve Clifford said about Isaac. “You can see the progress from him, and you saw it in Summer League when he was very good, and he’s continued to get better.”
As far as young frontcourts go, this is one of the most compelling in the league–and it has helped the Magic to wins over the Heat and Celtics, and nearly a third against the 76ers. This team is quickly establishing itself as a playoff threat in the East.
The Blazers, meanwhile, stand at 2-1 with wins over the Lakers and Spurs, but they’re coming off a heart-breaking one-point overtime loss to the Wizards on Monday.
It’s overall, though, been a positive start for Portland. Damian Lillard (43.9 field-goal percentage; 30.4 three-point percentage) and CJ McCollum (35.1 field-goal percentage; 36.4 three-point percentage) are both off to cold starts by their lofty standards, but the Blazers are still third in the NBA in scoring (124.3 points per game) and ninth in offensive rating (113.4 points per 100 possessions).
With big contributions from guys like Nik Stauskas, Evan Turner and Zach Collins, the Blazers are third in the league in bench scoring after finishing 27th, 27th, 18th, 27th, 30th and 30th the last six years. If they can keep getting that kid of production outside of Lillard, McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic, that will be huge for the Blazers taking another step forward after last year’s disappointment in the playoffs.
All in all, the Magic and Blazers are two really intriguing teams right now, so Thursday’s matchup should serve as a good litmus test for both.
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