Hedo Turkoglu shoots a layup over Chris Bosh. Despite Turkoglu's game-high 26 points -- including 11 n the fourth quarter -- the Magic fell, 108-94. Photo by Ron Turenne, NBAE/Getty Images

The Raptors jumped out to a hot start last night and never looked back, winning Game Three of their first-round series with the Magic by a final score of 108-94. And you know what? I'm not surprised. At all.

The Raptors had a raucous crowd that puts ours to shame. That's not to say that we in Orlando are bad fans, but rather that the Raptors Nation (read: Canada) is simply more passionate. And with all those fans screaming their lungs out as the Raptors jumped out to a 28-20 first-quarter lead, there was no doubt that it was simply not going to be our night.

Let me just laud the Raptors a bit:

• Give Sam Mitchell credit for starting Jamario Moon
• give owMoon credit for responding with a double-double, as he's done before against the Magic
• give T.J. Ford credit for recovering from poor shooting in his first two games to score a team-high 21 points
• give the entire Raptors team credit for shutting down Dwight Howard after the first period
• and so on...

However, we did some things right, too. We never gave up, even trimming what had been a 23-point lead to single digits early in the fourth quarter. As Kelly Dwyer noted at Ball Don't Lie, that sort of resiliency will help us in the later round of the playoffs, assuming we make it that far. Mike Bianchi disagrees, but I don't share his point of view. It's not like we put our heads down and mailed in the rest of the game. If we had, the loss margin would have been much greater than 14 points.

Over at the Sporting Blog, Bethlehem Shoals (of FreeDarko fame) writes that this series "might go the distance." Given how evenly played this series has been -- through three games, the Magic have scored 312 points, the Raptors have scored 311 -- I'm inclined to agree. The problem for us is that the Magic are trending downward and the Raptors are trending upward. But I'm not worried. We were due for a crappy game, and I fully expect us to leave the Air Canada Centre with a win tomorrow night. We aren't going to brick our three-pointers forever, no matter how noisy the crowd. Last night's loss was a mere bump in the road to the Conference semifinals. As Sleater-Kinney once said, "Don't worry. You got it."

Eastern Conference Playoffs, Round One
	@
Magic Lead First-Round Series, 2-0
Air Canada Centre
7:30 PM
NBA TV, Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	T.J. Ford
Maurice Evans	SG	Anthony Parker
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Jason Kapono
Rashard Lewis	PF	Chris Bosh
Dwight Howard	C	Andrea Bargnani
Series Central

Sam Mitchell promised changes to the Raptors' lineup. Tonight, we'll see if the 2006/2007 Coach of the Year can outsmart Stan Van Gundy and win a game in this best-of-seven series.

[Note by Ben Q Rock, 04/24/08 11:38 AM EDT ]
: Apparently, Mitchell will keep T.J. Ford in the starting lineup rather than replace him with Jose Calderon, despite the fact that Calderon has outplayed Ford by every possible measure in this series. Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star (via TrueHoop's First Cup) elaborates:

But perhaps the change that would make the most sense - inserting Jose Calderon as the starting point guard in place of the struggling T.J. Ford - can't and won't be made.

Ford, with his chemistry-killing refusal to be Calderon's backup this spring, has established he won't respond well to it.

Never mind that Ford's poor play at the outset of games has been a big reason why the Magic have carved out 20 and 18-point first-quarter leads in Games 1 and 2, respectively. Never mind that Ford's half-hearted perimeter defence has helped lead to a parade of penetration, that his 12-per-cent field-goal shooting and four Game-2 turnovers have helped dig those big deficits.

Speaking as a general NBA fan, this news troubles me. Calderon is a fantastic player who should have made the All-Star team this year, and I hate that he has to defer to an inferior, prima-donna player with a horrible attitude. But Calderon's loss is the Magic's gain, as they're much better off when Calderon's on the bench and Ford's starting. So, uh, thank you, T.J. Your inflated sense of self-worth may just help us win our first playoff series since 1996.

In case you're curious, here's the schedule for the upcoming Magic/Raptors playoff series:

• Game 1: Sunday, April 20th, at Orlando, 12:30 PM, TNT
• Game 2: Tuesday, April 22nd, at Orlando, 7:30 PM, NBA TV
• Game 3: Thursday, April 24th, at Toronto, 7:30 PM, NBA TV
• Game 4: Saturday, April 26th, at Toronto, 3:00 PM, TNT

The next three games are marked "if necessary." They'll be necessary. No way this series ends in a sweep.

• Game 5: Monday, April 28th, at Orlando, 7:30 PM, NBA TV
• Game 6: Thursday, May 1st, at Toronto, time TBD, TV station TBD
• Game 7: Saturday, May 3rd: at Orlando, time TBD, TNT

Yeah, I know, it sucks that games 2 and 3 are on NBA TV, which not everyone has. After a season of Magic fans having to put up with FSN's crap, the last thing we should have to deal with is not being able to see our team IN THE PLAYOFFS. But as Brian Schmitz notes, Sun Sports may choose to televise those games locally.

Check out the full 2007/2008 NBA playoff schedule at NBA.com.