Not a Magic fan, but '95 definitely felt closer. They had just beat friggin' Jordan and the Bulls. And while you could say Hakeem and Shaq were more or less equals, Penny was better than the 1995 version of Drexler or any other player on the Rockets. I don't remember the actual odds, but I feel like the Magic were the favorites going into those finals, even though they ended up getting swept.
2009, it felt like they had a very promising future. Turns out, 2009 ended up being the peak for those the Dwight-led Magic teams. But at the time, it looked like they were gonna compete for the championships for years to come, this just wasn't their time yet.
Between Chris Mullin and Steph Curry, we made the playoffs once, and that was a second round exit that fans still celebrate, because for so long, we had nothing else. I remember wishing they just gave us a winning team. That's all I wanted. I didn't dare ream of a single championship, let alone four. I didn't even dream of a playoff team. I just wanted a winning team. 42 games. I just wanted to win more games than we lost.
I'm willing ride with Curry 'til the day he decides to retire.