What a difference a week makes! You might recall my recent post titled “When Will It Stop”, asking that very question regarding my frustration with the Orlando Magic’s habit of playing well enough to build double digit leads in the fourth quarter, only to let it slip away in the final minutes of at least five of their playoff games in only two series. Well I got my answer, it was the next game. Since blowing a 10 point lead with less then 6 minutes to play to the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of their series the Orlando Magic have been unstoppable. The most impressive part of this three game run is that they have faced every situation possible. They played a very tight game 6 against Boston where their offense was not clicking on all cylinders, yet their defense in the second half of that game was downright AMAZING and forced the series to a deciding game. In Game 7 at Boston they were on fire, leading most of the game by double digits. Yet I was still counting down the minutes anticipating them to collapse as they’ve done all playoffs, but they held on to the big lead and won by 19.
Then there was Game 1 at Cleveland, where the Cavaliers looked poised to slaughter the Magic by half time. At that point Lebron James was looking like the closest thing to Michael Jordan I have ever seen playing terrific defense, dishing out assists, dunking, shooting and just plain scoring at will . Not to mention Mo Williams draining a three pointer from three quarters of the court away as the buzzer sounded at the half. In my mind the game was over. I actually was surprised they were only down 15, it looked like they should have been down 40. Stick a fork in them, they’re done. The Magic couldn’t even hold a lead when they built one themselves, let alone come back from 15 points down to take one. Stan Van Gundy was supposed to panic, he was supposed to let his team down when they needed him most.
WRONG! That’s about the time Orlando Magic Head Coach said four words that not only criticized their play, but inspired them to not give up. He said to his team “You are all witnesses”. If you are unfamiliar with the term, it is the marketing slogan for Lebron James referring to the fans who are lucky enough to sit back and watch him play. I have to give it to the Magic head coach(who looks a lot like Super Mario to me), it was simply “genius”. What better four words could he have used to describe his team not playing defense and basically standing there watching the NBA’s golden boy, Lebron James, take the game from them by himself.
The Magic responded to their Coach’s comment! They came out a different, rejuvenated and fired up team in the second half. While Lebron James still put his numbers up; ending up with a packed stat line including 49 points(it was almost like he couldn’t miss), the Magic didn’t back down. The Cavs just couldn’t keep a body between Dwight Howard and the basket the whole third quarter, allowing him to convert some NASTY alley oop dunks. Since the start of the second half the Magic were on a roll and pulled within 4 by the start of the fourth despite only hitting 3 three’s the first three quarters(Now that’s amazing!). When the final quarter started it was all about the Magic’s forwards, Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis. Hedo being the facilitator and Lewis being the sharp shooter. Hedo ended up with 14 assists, 7 in the fourth quarter alone. Lewis hit timely three pointer after three pointer, including one with the shot clock running out and another with less then 15 seconds to play to put the Magic up for good(assisted by Hedo) after Dwight fouled out the game with 30 points and 13 rebounds.
The crazy part to me is the whole final five minutes of the fourth quarter the Magic looked like they knew they were going to win. This was not the same team I saw in the previous two playoff series that stopped playing hard and panicked when things got close, this was a relaxed team on a mission that was confident they were going to get it done. After a couple dead balls, I saw Turkoglu laughing to himself implying the ref had just made bad calls but it wasn’t going to stop him. Before their final offensive play of the game with the Magic down by 2, I saw Rashard Lewis wink at Dwight Howard on the bench three times signaling he was going to go for the three pointer and the win. It was utter and sheer confidence and I have to tell you, it was fun to watch.
On the other end of the spectrum for the Cavaliers, it was a different story. Lebron looked surprised, almost saddened he was in this position. He couldn’t believe his team just relinquished a double digit lead in the second half of a playoff game after he was playing so well. I can’t blame him, he made some ridiculous shots and passes to keep his team in it but it wasn’t enough. He looked tired, and he even missed three key free throws in the final quarter that would have almost certainly gave his team the victory(I’m sorry to say but Michael Jordan would have made those). I believe he even signaled for his coach to call 2 timeouts in the final minutes(he later admitted it was because of cramps). It was then when I thought to myself “They’re beat”. I saw a shift, a changing of the guard. I think this game is more significant then just Game 1, I think it is a sign of things to come. The Magic look like a well balanced, resilient and good defensive team that now has the confidence that they can beat the team with the best record in the league. The Magic answered my question “When will this stop” but there is no need for them to answer “When did this start?”……”We Are All Witnesses”!
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