INDIANAPOLIS — Orlando Magic General Manager Otis Smith indicated Tuesday that it is unlikely the team will extend the contract of power forward Ryan Anderson before Wednesday night’s 11:59 EST deadline to do so for members of the 2008 draft class.

Anderson is on course to become a restricted free agent in July, and the Magic would have the opportunity to match any offer sheet that Anderson could sign with another team.

“The fact of the matter is that there are very few guys that get extended contracts like that coming off rookie deals,” Smith said before the Magic faced the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

“We like Ryan. We’d like to keep him on our team. Quite honestly, we still have the right of first refusal because he’d be a restricted free agent. It could backfire, and we could have to pay more. But that’s the risk we’ve chosen to take.”

Smith acknowledged that Dwight Howard’s unsettled situation did factor into the team’s decision because the team does not know what its roster will look like in the months and years ahead. Not extending Anderson’s contract helps maintain some flexibility.

Anderson said before tipoff that he wasn’t worried about the situation and that he hadn’t thought much about a possible extension.

“I love it here [with the Magic],” Anderson said. “I want to play here for a long time. But this is my last year of my deal, so there’s still after the season [to get something done], and we’ll see what happens there. But it’s something that’s out of my control.

“Right now, there’s just so much going on with our team,” he also said. “It’s not really something that I know is on the forefront of Otis’ mind. It’s understandable just because we’ve got a lot going on right now.”

That said, this has been a breakout season for the 23-year-old Anderson.

He entered Tuesday averaging 16.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

Still stings

The Magic’s 87-56 loss to the Boston Celtics on Monday night still bothered Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy late Tuesday afternoon.

“When you go to a game like that and you, as a coach, can’t find any answers, yeah, it’s going to eat at you for a long time,” Van Gundy said.

“Even after tonight’s game that one will eat at me. It will eat at me probably in July, August, September, the year 2013, ’14, ’15.”

Davis: still adjusting

Power forward Glen Davis’ first month and a half with the Magic has been filled with peaks and valleys. For every game in which he provided high-energy hustle plays, there seemed to be a game in which he lost his dirty-work focus and placed too much emphasis on scoring.

It appears that Davis still has plenty of adjusting left to do.

After the Magic lost to the Celtics, Davis indicated that he still is finding his way, and that he would prefer to be in Orlando’s starting lineup.

He was asked if playing for the Magic is a better fit for him than playing for the Celtics.

“I don’t know,” he responded. “I don’t know yet. I’m in the same situation I was here: coming off the bench. So, the only thing I know is that I got paid a little bit more money.”

He laughed a bit.

“It’s a process,” he continued. “It’s a system that I’ve got to get used to, and I don’t know. I don’t know. I know what I’m supposed to do, but I don’t know yet. I’m still searching.”

Layups

• Super Bowl XLVI already has taken a toll on the Magic. Due to construction work related to the big game, it took one of the team’s two buses about 40 minutes Tuesday to travel perhaps eight blocks from the team’s downtown Indianapolis hotel to Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

• The Magic are scheduled to play in Indianapolis again on Feb. 4, the day before the Super Bowl. And because there are no hotel rooms available, the Magic will travel to Indianapolis on the day of the game and return to Florida immediately afterward.

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

INDIANAPOLIS — Orlando Magic General Manager Otis Smith indicated Tuesday that it is unlikely the team will extend the contract of power forward Ryan Anderson before Wednesday night’s 11:59 EST deadline to do so for members of the 2008 draft class.

Anderson is on course to become a restricted free agent in July, and the Magic would have the opportunity to match any offer sheet that Anderson could sign with another team.

“The fact of the matter is that there are very few guys that get extended contracts like that coming off rookie deals,” Smith said before the Magic faced the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

“We like Ryan. We’d like to keep him on our team. Quite honestly, we still have the right of first refusal because he’d be a restricted free agent. It could backfire, and we could have to pay more. But that’s the risk we’ve chosen to take.”

Smith acknowledged that Dwight Howard’s unsettled situation did factor into the team’s decision because the team does not know what its roster will look like in the months and years ahead. Not extending Anderson’s contract helps maintain some flexibility.

Anderson said before tipoff that he wasn’t worried about the situation and that he hadn’t thought much about a possible extension.

“I love it here [with the Magic],” Anderson said. “I want to play here for a long time. But this is my last year of my deal, so there’s still after the season [to get something done], and we’ll see what happens there. But it’s something that’s out of my control.

“Right now, there’s just so much going on with our team,” he also said. “It’s not really something that I know is on the forefront of Otis’ mind. It’s understandable just because we’ve got a lot going on right now.”

That said, this has been a breakout season for the 23-year-old Anderson.

He entered Tuesday averaging 16.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

Still stings

The Magic’s 87-56 loss to the Boston Celtics on Monday night still bothered Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy late Tuesday afternoon.

“When you go to a game like that and you, as a coach, can’t find any answers, yeah, it’s going to eat at you for a long time,” Van Gundy said.

“Even after tonight’s game that one will eat at me. It will eat at me probably in July, August, September, the year 2013, ’14, ’15.”

Davis: still adjusting

Power forward Glen Davis’ first month and a half with the Magic has been filled with peaks and valleys. For every game in which he provided high-energy hustle plays, there seemed to be a game in which he lost his dirty-work focus and placed too much emphasis on scoring.

It appears that Davis still has plenty of adjusting left to do.

After the Magic lost to the Celtics, Davis indicated that he still is finding his way, and that he would prefer to be in Orlando’s starting lineup.

He was asked if playing for the Magic is a better fit for him than playing for the Celtics.

“I don’t know,” he responded. “I don’t know yet. I’m in the same situation I was here: coming off the bench. So, the only thing I know is that I got paid a little bit more money.”

He laughed a bit.

“It’s a process,” he continued. “It’s a system that I’ve got to get used to, and I don’t know. I don’t know. I know what I’m supposed to do, but I don’t know yet. I’m still searching.”

Layups

• Super Bowl XLVI already has taken a toll on the Magic. Due to construction work related to the big game, it took one of the team’s two buses about 40 minutes Tuesday to travel perhaps eight blocks from the team’s downtown Indianapolis hotel to Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

• The Magic are scheduled to play in Indianapolis again on Feb. 4, the day before the Super Bowl. And because there are no hotel rooms available, the Magic will travel to Indianapolis on the day of the game and return to Florida immediately afterward.

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

Main | Stan Van Gundy: Players don’t change who they are »

EASTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: MAGIC VS. HAWKS

Series schedule

(Best-of-7)

Game 1: Tonight at Amway Center, 7 p.m., Sun Sports/ESPN

Game 2: Tuesday at Amway Center, 7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Florida/NBA TV

Game 3: Friday at Philips Arena, 8 p.m., Fox Sports Florida/ESPN2

Game 4: Sunday, April 24 at Philips Arena, 7 p.m., Sun Sports/TNT

Game 5*: Tuesday, April 26 at Amway Center, Time TBD, Fox Sports Florida/Natl. TV TBD

Game 6*: Thursday, April 28 at Philips Arena, Time TBD, Local TV TBD/Natl. TV TBD

Game 7*: Saturday, April 30 at Amway Center, Time TBD, Local TV TBD/TNT

* — If necessary.

Radio coverage on WDBO (580 AM), WRLZ (1270 AM, Spanish).

Regular-season records: Magic 52-30, Hawks 44-38.

Regular-season series: Hawks won, 3-1.

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

James Brown asked the Blues Brothers “Do you see the light?!” Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic basically asked the city of Orlando the same thing after Tuesday’s 78-72 win.

My Orlando brothers and sisters, do you see the light? Do you believe in the Orlando Magic? Do you think this Orlando Magic team is NBA playoffs ready?

Dwight Howard wants your Amen!

He needs your Amen! He needs you to believe that this Orlando Magic team is good enough to win it all.

That’s a tough sell after the Orlando Magic uglied their way to a 78-72 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night. The magic shot 2 of 21 from 3-point range, shot 38.8 percent overall and committed a whopping 21 turnovers!

But that isn’t stopping the NBA MVP contender from asking you to see the light.

He said as much after the game, when asked if he thought if the Magic were playoff ready. Unlike James Brown’s cameo in the Blues Brothers, Dwight Howard was a little more subdued with his request for Orlando Magic belief.

Roll the video (link to mobile-friendly version):

“We’re not perfect, we’re going to make mistakes, we’re going to miss shots, we’re going to make bad turnovers, bad decisions with the ball, but we just need everybody to believe in us,” Howard said. “We are going to continue to believe in ourselves and believe in each other, but we need our city to continue to believe in us.”

Well, do you believe? Do you see the light?