Introduction and context for the final regular-season game:

"Folks, I am sorry I've been away for a while. If you've been keeping up with the channel, you see that recently I've had to revert to posting YouTube shorts just to keep the channel active. Life has been busy, and when I wanted to go live from the arena the other night, things were a little chaotic with it being the final home game of the season.

But I'm back now, and I'm back ahead of the final regular-season game — and a critical one at that. In some ways the Magic control their destiny, and in other ways it is being left up to chance and the hope that other dominoes will fall their way.

It's crazy. Last time I was on this show for a full episode was 10 days ago, based on what YouTube's telling me, after a nasty loss to the Atlanta Hawks at home in which the Magic were blown out. Things really looked dire for this team. They just continued to skid. That was only their third win over the last 11 or 12 games at that point after the seven-game win streak we saw from early to mid-March.

It looked like a team that, worst-case scenario for me, was headed toward not having another home game at all after the final one against the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 8th.

But this team has turned it around since then. Winners of five straight after that loss to Atlanta. The Magic went to Dallas and overcame Cooper Flagg's 51 points, a win at New Orleans, and then a couple of wins at home against the Pistons and the Timberwolves before beating the Chicago Bulls on Friday night.

Now they go to Boston to face a Celtics team that is going to be resting most of its key roster pieces, if not all of them. Looking at the injury report right now: the All-Star duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will not play. Payton Pritchard is doubtful. Sam Hauser is doubtful. Neemias Queta is doubtful. Derrick White is out. That's a lot of names on this list, and that's where the Magic have benefited recently."

Recent context and what the Magic have done:

"That pair of games at home against Detroit and Minnesota — you still had to win those games. Those are still talented teams, and the Magic were able to do so, but context matters. They did not have to face a Cade Cunningham, Tobias Harris, or Caris LeVert when they hosted the Pistons. They did not have to face an Anthony Edwards and a Rudy Gobert when they hosted the Timberwolves. And then the Chicago Bulls, knowing their season was over, were pretty well beat up with only a few guys available in that game on Friday.

Now a chance to go into Boston and a chance to win out and potentially enter the sixth seed and avoid the play-in — which would be huge for this team. This is something that myself and I'm sure most of the Magic faithful were not really even seeing as a possibility after that loss to the Hawks. This was a team that looked dead in the water. I remember that postgame presser was very contentious. Jamal Mosley talking about you can't coach effort. He also did not blame the fans for their chants calling for his job and the boos that echoed throughout the arena.

But since then, this team took its last shot to do something with the end of the regular season, and they've done it. They've done it as well as you could do — winning five straight. Winning today would be six straight wins. That's winning out the remainder of the regular season, and that's really all you can ask for at this point."

Jalen Suggs' message and the stakes:

"Something that Jalen Suggs talked about before that loss to Atlanta (I think it might have even been before the win against the Suns, which was a critical win) where he talked about: 'This is the reality of things. We are in a play-in spot right now, but that doesn't mean that's what we have to settle for.'

Now you look at where this team is at, and they have one more chance here to really finish this thing off the right way and propel themselves into a possible playoff spot and avoid a play-in situation."

Current standings and scenarios:

"With a win on Sunday, the Magic are guaranteed to finish no worse than seventh in the Eastern Conference, hosting the 7-8 play-in game on Tuesday at the Kia Center. That's significant because that means the Magic will have as good a home-court advantage as you can get being a play-in team.

Currently the Magic are seventh with a 45-36 record. Just ahead of them are the Toronto Raptors with an identical record. Behind Orlando you've got the 76ers at 44-37 and then the Hornets in ninth.

This is definitely one of those things where it doesn't get any more important than this today. Unfortunately for the Magic, they don't have the luxury of resting guys and getting ready for the postseason. This is where they are. There are no days off from this point.

With a win and a Toronto Raptors loss to the Brooklyn Nets, the Orlando Magic would climb out of the play-in and finish sixth, setting up a first-round playoff series with the New York Knicks.

If the Orlando Magic lose and the Philadelphia 76ers win, the Magic would tumble to eighth — to play the Sixers if the Raptors win, or to play the Raptors if the Raptors lose their game. They just don't want that to happen."

Final thoughts:

"The Magic have come this far to essentially pull what looked like a season dead in the water out of the water and give it some life again. Crazier things have happened, but if the Magic win this game, they set themselves up for the possibility of somehow miraculously jumping into a playoff spot. But at the very least, giving themselves a chance to host this play-in game — which they were good in last year, able to get through it and get into the playoffs.

This team has had its back up against the wall for over a week now, understanding the stakes, understanding what was slipping through their fingers. It's one of those things now where you have to take advantage of the moment. Because this is it. This is game 82 of 82.

I know that it has not gone as planned for this group given the preseason conversations after the acquisition of Desmond Bane and the way the Eastern Conference was looking with the injuries and the uncertainty. This is not the conversation that Magic fans or even the national media thought that we would be having. This was a team that was being talked about within the realm of an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, not a play-in tournament. But this is the hand that has been dealt. This is the hand that the team has created for itself.

Now it's about making the most of what you've got. And this is what the Magic got. So it's going to have to be all hands on deck. I'm looking forward to it. This is a very fun time of year. As long as they win this game, you guys will see me in the Kia Center on Tuesday night, where I will be bringing plenty of content to you and really looking forward to some postseason basketball here."

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