[Breakdown]Well, with the Magic winning the race for the 8th spot, that makes them the first round opponent of the best team in the East with the number one seed for the second straight year in the Detroit Pistons.The Pistons played remarkably well against the Magic this year by beating them in all four matchups.Games1. DEC8-@ ORL-Pistons 87 Magic 832. FEB21-@ DET-Pistons 110 Magic 883. FEB 23-@ ORL-Pistons 94 Magic 894. APR 11- @ DET-Pistons 104 Magic 99Total- Pistons 98.7 Magic 89.7The two games in Orlando were very close and the most recent one was a case in which the Pistons let the Magic get back in it when they were up big.Player MatchupsPG- Chauncey Billups vs. Jameer NelsonNelson can get hot quickly and control the tempo at times, something that Chauncey Billups does as well, and better than Nelson.ADVANTAGE: BillupsSG-Rip Hamilton vs. Hedo Turkoglu, Keyon Dooling, Keith BogansWhichever one of these guys that starts is going to have a hard time keeping up with Rip. Dooling and Bogans are good defenders, but Rip is such a better scorer than them, he provides about as much as they do collectively.ADVANTAGE: RipSF- Tayshaun Prince v. Grant HillGrant Hill is pondering on retiring after this season and this series will be a good way to go out against his former team. I think Grant Hill will play well and in fact better than Tayshaun at times.ADVANTAGE: HillPF- Rasheed Wallace v. Dwight HowardLets face it, matching Webber up against the strength and the abilities of Howard is unfair. Sheed will provide more of a challenge, but Dwight will edge him out.ADVANTAGE: HowardC- Chris Webber v. Darko MillicicDarko will do nothing against us, Sheed will get a lot of unneeded helpout blocks when Chris Webber doesn't stuff him. Darko may be better in Orlando, but hes not enough to do any damage to the Pistons. this will also be a sign of things to come in the rest of the playoffs from C-Webb.ADVANTAGE: C-WebbBench and Coaching-Brian Hill isnt ready to beat a powerhouse team. and the bench of the Magic is inconsistent with its good players ADVANTAGE: PistonsSeriesPistons win 4-1I would say a sweep but, the Pistons winning 8-0 in a season against one team isnt that likely.your thoughts?
We still might play Washington though.Also, Grant Hill and Tayshaun I think would be the key matchup here. Tayshaun COULD be the better player, but Hill seems to play well against us a lot of times. If Tayshaun can outplay him, we should get a sweep.
Well the Pistons just won 98-90 to take a 2-0 series lead over the Magic. Really no complaints except when the Pistons had a double digit lead in the 3rd and they put in Hunter, Murray, and Delfino the Magic scored 7 straight points to cut the lead to 8. The bench has played well the last half of ths season but to me it just looks like the bench has playoff gitters or something. I mean Delfino had a decent game in the first game but Murray, Hunter and even at times McDyess haven't lived up to the "Bench Brigade" we all thought would help spell the starters.I mean all in all I am happy we got the win but I just hope the bench loosens up and help the starters get some rest through the playoffs. HoLLa baCk
Taking a 2-0 lead is huge.11 out of 300 something teams out of all time, have came back in a 2-0 defecit (Detroit is one. Against Orlando concediently in 03).
I definately forsee the sweep now. Detroit has yet to play a full game and they are still pretty handily beating Orlando. Dwight Howard has been insanely disappointing thus far.
Yeah I want to say Sweep as well, but we never sweep anybody. There is always that game where we come out lazy and nothing is working and they get one it seems like. I want to say this year is diff tho!
^ Oh yeah now I think it will be a sweep for sure. Orlando has to be demoralized since they are down 3-0. Time to get out the brooms.
I dont see anyway how the Magic will win tonight. Detroit is dominating as expected and should sweep.
<span style="color:#000080">I knew the pistons had this won before it even started :winkglasses: with the heat going down 0-3 to the bulls last night :no1: it'll be Pistons vs Bulls, but these magic could not handle the pistons, they asked for the pistons and the pistons delivered</span>
I dont know much people who actually thought Orlando could compete in this. Detroit was just too good and too deep.On to round 2!
Well round one is done but to me only Delfino has showed some kind of consistency off the bench. Dale Davis has done his thing in the time he has given but Mc Dyess and Murray are struggling. Not to mention we barely have seen Hunter or Maxiell. I mean a sweep is a sweep but if our bench is struggling against a team like Orlando imagine the 2nd round against either Chicago or Miami? Even if the Pistons pull it off there is a good chance it could go to 7 and possibly by that time the starters might be worn out and the bench is inconsistent just like last season's playoffs.At least the Pistons have at least a week off before they start he 2nd round, I am still hoping that Miami at least puts up some kind of fight to go at least 6 or 7 to wear out the Bulls. HoLLa baCk
Get out your brooms Cinderellas and start sweeping. 4-0 Pistons over Magic in the toughest game of the series.Delfino, Dyess, Davis, and Flip Murray defensively have been getting the job done off the bench but they have to go against Nocioni(most dangerous) Tyrus Thomas, Chris Duhon, and Sefolosha. Lindsey Hunter needs to start playing a bit better along with JMax and we need to get Mohammed up against Ben in one of these games.
