...among other things.

Dunkin' Donuts and the Orlando Magic: A Real Breakfast of Champions

3QC Photo

All season long, the Orlando Magic teamed up with Central Florida-area Dunkin' Donuts locations to provide Magic fans with the opportunity to have a free donut the morning after each Magic win. There wasn't a catch: no minimum points-scored requirement, no ticket-stub requirement, no individual achievement requirement. All the Magic had to do was win, and all their fans needed to do was go to Dunkin' Donuts the next morning to reap the benefits.

Thankfully, this promotion carried over into the playoffs. So this morning, following last night's 102-92 win over the Raptors, which put the Magic in the second round for the first time since 1996, I sat down and enjoyed a chocolate frosted donut.

It was the most satisfying meal of my life.

Forgive the hyperbole, but the Magic's advancing is no small feat. Twelve years may not seem like a long time to a lot of you, but it sure does to me. When the Magic closed out the Hawks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, I had just finished my second-grade year. Less than a week before the Magic beat the Raptors, I finished my second year of college.

But school isn't the only thing that's changed for me, personally, since the Magic last fielded a contending team. I've also met the woman I will one day marry -- love you, honey. I've been diagnosed for depression. I've had two stints in behavioral health clinics, one as recently as November. Hell, the only thing that's stayed the same is the house I call home. And, obviously, my love for the Magic.

That's why I had to fight back tears during the final moments of last night's win, which means more to me than my team advancing. It means I've been rewarded for supporting this team for all these years. So, too, has everyone else in the organization. Whit Watson says as much in his latest blog entry, in which he discusses the Magic mania taking hold in Orlando once more.

Two images from last night's game stick out to me as symbols of how the Magic have progressed, and neither of them ended up on any highlight reels. Before the game, Hedo Turkoglu was presented with the NBA's Most Improved Player Award in a ceremony at halfcourt. After posing for a few pictures with it and its presenter, Hedo called his teammates over to pose with him. They obliged:

Photo by Kevin Kolcynzki, Reuters

This team's camaraderie is unprecedented in franchise history. That photo shows just one of the literally thousands of expressions of Magic brotherhood we've seen this season. There isn't a single selfish player on the team. After years of employing players who valued themselves more than they valued the team -- and I won't name names -- it's refreshing to see a roster full of likable, fun-loving guys who just want to win.

The second image comes from late in the game, with the Magic's victory secured and both teams simply playing out the string. During a Toronto timeout, Stuff, the Magic's dopey-looking mascot, emerged from a locker-room tunnel wearing a grey hooded cloak and holding a sickle: Stuff became the Grim Reaper, and you can see it near the end of this video shot from the stands (Rated R for strong pervasive language). It was a fitting way to end the evening. The Magic showed the killer instinct they haven't had in over a decade by putting a team away when it counted, and their mascot was dressed for the occasion.

No matter what happens for the rest of the playoffs, the Magic will finish this season as successes, having re-established themselves as NBA-relevant and re-invigorated a formerly passive Orlando community. And I couldn't be prouder of them.

Hedo Turkoglu of the Orlando Magic encourages the fans at the Amway Arena to cheer during the final minutes of the Magic's 102-92 win over the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.

Photo by John Raoux, the Associated Press

I've run out of things to say about this team, which is probably good, because I screamed myself hoarse along with 17,518 other fans at the Amway Arena. And after 12 excruciatingly long, cruel years of futility, disappointment, and waiting we finally did it: We won a playoff series.

We're back.

After squandering an early 10-2 lead and sleepwalking through the first half, we came out strong in the third quarter and held the Raptors to just 18 points in the period. We fought for rebounds, contested every shot, and worked hard on our end, turning a one-point halftime deficit into a six-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, which we dominated, thanks in large part to the incredible crowd at Amway Arena. It's not as though we caught some lucky breaks, or that our guys hit lucky shots, or that Toronto affixed a stamp on this game and mailed it in: we earned this win, and it feels good. Real good.

Honestly, is there anything negative we can say about this team after watching its performance in this series? We still have trouble with turnovers, committing too many while not forcing enough on the other end, and our three-point shooting has been well below average, but the gutsy performances by each and every player have offset those deficiencies.

• Dwight Howard's final averages for this series: 22.6 points, 18.2 rebounds, and 3.8 blocks. He continues to amaze, and the only thing he's changed is his attitude. He's simply working harder. Stan Van Gundy mentioned it in his postgame comments: not once since the Magic began preparing for the playoffs, beginning with the first night the team studied film of the Raptors, has Van Gundy had to reprimand Dwight for not focusing like he should.
• I'm at a loss to explain Rashard Lewis. We sign him for three-point shooting and floor spacing, but this series he stunk it up from long distance, but made up for it by crashing the boards. He had 13 tonight, matching the season-high total he posted in the Game Four win. That's back-to-back double-doubles for Rashard Lewis. Okay, he's a 6'10" forward, he should rebound that well in his sleep, whoop-de-do. But he reached double-figures in rebounding just twice in 81 regular season games. So yes, let's commend him for his willingness to battle for loose balls.
• Jameer Nelson's assists went down (4.8 this series compared to 5.3 in the regular season) but his shooting went up, and I mean way up, as he made the Raptors pay for leaving him open to double-team Dwight Howard. I don't expect him to shoot 58% from the field over the course of a whole season, but there's no reason why he can't average even 15 points per game next year. He's leading this team emotionally, as he should, and is making a strong case that he indeed deserved the 5-year, $35 million contract extension he signed prior to this season.

I think we might have earned the mantle of "Team No One Wants to Face" in the Eastern Conference for the rest of these playoffs.

And we're just in Year One of the Dwight/Rashard/Hedo/Jameer/Van Gundy Era.

And our three-pointers will drop in eventually.

And we're the first team to advance in the playoffs this year, one year to the day after being the first team KO'd in the first round last season.

Let's take some time to enjoy this series win, our first in 12 years, and to express our appreciation for the guys who brought it to us.

And, uh, for those of you who are interested: tickets for Round Two (!) go on sale Wednesday morning.

One last thing: if I were mean spirited, I would have titled this recap "Lame Canada!", but that would have been unfair to the Raptors, who played hard, and to their fans, who are a classy bunch.

Some playoff-centric stories for today...

• Brian Schmitz writes that tonight's Game Five between the Magic and the Raptors is Orlando's biggest in the Dwight Howard era:

  All season the mantra for the Magic --- heck, all offseason, since they were swept by the Pistons --- has been this:

  Win a series for the first time in 12 years, and it has been a great season. Everything after that is gravy.

  But lose, yikes, and 52-30 has all but been a waste of time. A good run spoiled.

  [....]

  The Howard Era Magic have taken step No. 1: Winning a playoff game.

  They have taken step No. 2: Winning a road playoff game.

  Now this is step No. 3: Closing out a series.

• Stan Van Gundy, who I imagine will receive some third-place Coach of the Year votes, used Pat Garrity extensively in practice yesterday, even though he's not likely to play in this series. Garrity, as the longest-tenured Magic player, participated in practice and spoke to his teammates about what it's like to lose a 3-1 lead in a playoff series.
• Meanwhile, David Whitley worries that Orlando residents will blame the Orlando Sentinel for jinxing the Magic if they lose tonight's game, and if they go on to lose the series.

  Regardless, I don't want Sentinel fingerprints near the Magic's windpipe. So we completely endorse the following comments:

  "It's not over yet," Dwight Howard said.

  "We're taking it one game at a time," Jameer Nelson said.

  "I'm looking forward to the second round," Tracy McGrady said.

  Arrrghhh. Please forget that last one.

  I'd say he did a fine job covering the Sentinel's assets on that one. I question the choice of decorating the front page of this morning's Sports section with a toe-tagged version of the Raptors' alternate logo. Yikes.

• Steve Buffery of the Toronto Sun (via TrueHoop) says Raptors coach Sam Mitchell needs to put Jason Kapono in the starting lineup tonight. After all, what does Mitchell have to lose? His job? Here's an interesting statistic from Buffery's article: Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh are essentially canceling each other out in this series. But the Magic's remaining four starters are scoring 16.7 points per game each, compared to 8.7 points per game for the Raptors. And Mitchell won Coach of the Year last year? Uh, okay...

One final, non-playoff link:

• Last week, We Rite Good hosted the final round of 2007/2008's blogger MVP/RoY rankings. They expanded the rankings to include Coach of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, and Seventh Man of the Year. So, here's Part I and here's Part II.

Eastern Conference Playoffs, Round One
	@
Magic Lead First-Round Series, 3-1
Amway Arena
7:30 PM
NBA TV, Sun Sports
Probable starters:
T.J. Ford	PG	Jameer Nelson
Anthony Parker	SG	Maurice Evans
Jamario Moon	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Chris Bosh	PF	Rashard Lewis
Andrea Bargnani	C	Dwight Howard
Series Central

The Magic hope to ride the momentum they built up in the second half of Saturday's inspired 106-94 victory over the Raptors to a win at home today, which would allow them to advance to the second round for the first time since 1996. It won't be easy.

The two keys to a Magic victory are as follows:

1. Dwight Howard must stay active defensively. All 16 (!) of his blocked shots in this series have come in the Magic's 3 victories. We were 7-1 in the regular season when Dwight had 5 blocks or more, a figure that's ballooned to 9-1 in the playoffs. When he's asserting himself on the defensive end, we're damn tough to beat.
2. Jameer Nelson must "get his" offensively while Keyon Dooling must prevent T.J. Ford and Jose Calderon from "getting theirs". In the Raptors' Game Three win, Ford and Calderon eviscerated us to the tune of 39 points, 12 rebounds, and 16 assists. Getting them out of their comfort zones will force Chris Bosh and a tertiary player (Jason Kapono? Anthony Parker? Carlos Delfino?) to carry the Raptors' load offensively.

Tip's at 7:30 on NBA TV nationally and Sun Sports locally. Let's make it a loud crowd in the Amway Arena tonight. But, more importantly, let's get a victory and become the first team in the league to officially advance to the second round of the playoffs.

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.