The NBA playoffs have bee full of great stories. The Celtics have gone back in time by a couple of years. The Suns finally got the Spurs’ monkey off their backs. The Lakers are looking like the Lakers. Performance the most impressive showing so far, though, is by the Orlando Magic. Not only have they swept both of their opponents, but they won their four second round games by a stunning combined total of 101 points. That shouldn’t be possible in the playoffs, and certainly not in the second round. The Magic are now riding a 14 game winning streak, and the only time they didn’t cover the spread over that stretch was in the first game of the playoffs, and they only missed by one point. Oddsmakers haven’t been shy with setting numbers, but Orlando just doesn’t care.
What they have done has been remarkable. the past isn’t as important to sports bettors as the immediate future, though. Can this team keep doing what they are doing, and are they a worthwhile bet as the playoffs continue? Here’s a look:
Pros
Rest – If Orlando needs an excuse later on in the playoffs they certainly can’t rely on a lack of rest to be one. They had three days to rest between the playoffs and the end of the season. They had a full week after the first series, and they are going to have another full week before the third round. Nagging injuries aren’t going to be a problem, and players will have had a chance to get over some of the exhaustion that is inevitable after a long season. There’s more to it than that, though. These breaks have meant that the team has had plenty of practice time to work out the kinks that they encounter, and to gameplan for the coming series. It’s not a winder that they were so good in the second round given that. Rest is a benefit to a team with two traits – focused players and good coaching. Orlando gets big check marks in both of those categories.
Depth – The Magic have been built piece by piece, and it’s come together better on the court than it might look on paper. In the past this team has been Dwight Howard and a supporting cast. This year, though, there are four guys carry the weight almost equally. Jameer Nelson has been very good. Vince Carter is like a new man – one who is six or seven years younger, and hungrier than he has been since leaving Toronto. Rashard Lewis is a rock – dependable and often impressive. Dwight Howard is an all-NBA player, and the best remaining player in the East. Cleveland showed us this year what happens when you build around one guy and that guy has a rough day. We have seen different guys step up and take the lead in virtually every game of the playoffs. That’s tough for an opponent to counter.
Play like a team – This one could come across as a bit of a cliche, but I think that it’s true. The teams that really succeed in the playoffs are the ones that can avoid any personal drama and play like they are all headed towards one goal. Going back to Cleveland again, we saw all sorts of drama that took away form the team on the court – LeBron’s elbow and his future being chief among them. Orlando is hungry and all on the same page. That’s tough to beat. Unfortunately for them, Boston is in the same place right now.
Cons
Class of opponents – Charlotte had a nice season, but they were ahead of schedule this year, and they were just happy to be in the playoffs. They didn’t have the talent to compete, and they would have been hard pressed to beat any legitimate playoff contender this year. Orlando doesn’t get a lot of credit for beating them, but they would have faced a lot of criticism if they had lost more than one team. Atlanta was a slightly different story – they have made the playoffs three years in a row, won more than 50 games, and are building something very nice. There obviously was something that wasn’t right in Atlanta, though. Joe Johnson was terrible against Orlando – not only did he fail to produce, but he looked like he didn’t care. Mike Woodson’s contract wasn’t renewed despite seeing his record improve every year, so the front office, the coaching staff, and the players obviously weren’t in sync. Orlando was hunting an animal that was already wounded in that series. Now the Magic have to move on to a very tough opponent. Boston showed that they are fearless against Cleveland, and we are watching the emergence of Rajon Rondo as an elite player right before our eyes. It’s a massive step up in class for the Magic, and they have to be braced for it. They haven’t handle that jump in class particularly well recently in the playoffs, so they need to find a new level of performance here.
Playing way above expectations – The Magic are a nice team, and they are clearly in a good place. No team is good enough to sustain the pace of this team, though. Fourteen straight wins is remarkable, and 13-1 ATS is almost impossible. No matter what you think of this team you have to see that sooner or later, and probably sooner, they are going to start to see some lines that they can’t cover. Oddsmakers will make sure that that’s the case if the team doesn’t take care of it on the court.
