On the NBA: The NBA's Other Elite Team

When you talk about the NBA's elite, you begin with the obvious.

The conversation usually starts with the league's two marquee teams -- the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.

It's hard to argue with that. After all, the Celtics dispatched the Lakers to win title No. 17 last June and this season, Boston raced out of the blocks to the best 29-game start in NBA history. Meanwhile, LA remains atop the Western Conference.

Joining those two clubs in the discussion is LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs and James' ridiculously chiseled physique are overpowering the NBA to the tune of a perfect 20-0 home record and a 31-8 overall mark.

Like I said -- obvious.

But, one other club now has to enter the debate -- the Orlando Magic.

The Magic made some serious strides last season, winning a playoff series for the first time since 1996 before being summarily dismissed by the Detroit Pistons in five games during the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Dwight Howard and the Magic own the NBA's best record at 33-8.

Superstar center Dwight Howard called the playoff loss to the Pistons "an embarrassment" and the All-Star, along with his mates, seem to have used the Detroit debacle as fuel this season.

With Saturday's win in the Rocky Mountains, Stan Van Gundy's club finished a grueling four-game road trip in perfect fashion and improved their NBA-best road record to 17-5.

The Magic beat three division leaders on the trek, San Antonio, the Lakers and Denver, and have won 15 of their past 17 games overall. Meanwhile, the team's 33-8 record is now the NBA's best.

Last Friday, the Magic completed a season sweep of the mighty Lakers for the first time in franchise history. They also have already swept both games from the Spurs this season and routed another talented Western Conference team, the New Orleans Hornets, on Christmas Day.

Van Gundy has been riding his big four - sharpshooters Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis, much-improved point guard Jameer Nelson and the incomparable Howard - and the results have been there on a consistent basis.

In Denver, Turkoglu scored a game-high 31 points in a 106-88 romp over the Northwest Division-leading Nuggets, while Nelson and Lewis dropped 23 points apiece.

Howard, the game's most dominant big man and the league's only legitimate 20-20 threat on a nightly basis, recorded his usual double-double of 14 points and 20 rebounds.

Denver coach George Karl was more than a little impressed,

"(The Magic) figure out how to play and how to win," Karl said after the game. "Tonight, we just had too many holes to fill in. You got an Orlando team that's beating everybody and confident."

Scratch that...the Magic haven't beaten everybody...just yet.

Orlando hasn't recorded a win against the Eastern Conference's top teams. The Magic lost to the Celtics and their old nemesis, the Pistons, in their lone outings with both clubs this season. Meanwhile, they haven't met up with James and the Cavaliers yet.

In other words, there is still room for improvement and plenty of opportunity for Van Gundy to push his talented club, but Orlando no longer needs any "Magic" to compete with the league's best.

Howard, Nelson, Lewis and Turkoglu are more than enough.