Yesterday, virtually every major basketblog linked to this YouTube video, a modification of the trailer for The Dark Knight in which Kobe Bryant plays Batman and Kevin Garnett plays the Joker. The timing of this video seems strange to me because I started working on this Batman-themed post for this site's Diversions section earlier this week. So, here it is: selected NBA teams compared to Batman villains.

The Detroit Pistons are Two-Face

Billups photo by Michael Conroy, the Associated Press; Two-Face action figure by DC Direct; Wallace photo by M. Spencer Green, the Associated Press

One of comics' most tragic villains, Two-Face was once a celebrated district attorney named Harvey Dent. When crime boss Sal Maroni threw acid on Dent during a trial, it scarred Dent's visage and psyche. Now a man divided between good and evil, and flips his trademark scarred coin to determine how he'll behave. The Pistons have a similar balance in their personalities: they have Chauncey Billups, team captain and winner of the NBA's citizenship award, on the "good" side and Rasheed Wallace, owner of the league's most notorious temper, on the "bad" side (although he does good things, too). And, like Dent, they have two distinct attitudes toward their craft. When they're motivated, they're one of the league's best teams; when not motivated, they lose to the Knicks by nearly 30 points. Their frustrating inconsistency mirrors Two-Face's refusal to seek treatment for himself, despite Bruce Wayne's repeated offers of support.

The Los Angeles Lakers are The Joker

Bryant photo by Ric Francis, the Associated Press; Joker art by Doug Mahnke, DC Comics

Ignore the fact that the Lakers and the Joker share a favorite color (purple, although the Lakers have a different name for it), and the fact that the silver screen's original Joker sits courtside at Lakers games: the similarities between the Lakers and the Joker are uncanny. Both entities are icons in their respective idioms, the Lakers for their dynasties and the Joker for being so damned entertaining for so long (he first appeared in 1940). Both entities are of the "love to hate" variety. And both entities enjoy toying with their victims before they strike. The Joker kills whomever he wants whenever he feels like it, and does so with glee just as the Lakers (and Kobe Bryant in particular - scroll down to the paragraph that begins with the words, "Consider that Denver") are similarly inclined to relish their kills victories.

And if Kobe Bryant himself is the Joker, then Sasha Vujacic (far right) is Harley Quinn.

The Phoenix Suns are The Penguin

O'Neal photo by Ross D. Franklin, the Associated Press; Penguin art by Simone Bianchi, DC Comics

[Insert Shaquille O'Neal fat joke here].

The Suns, before they acquired O'Neal, were one of the league's most entertaining teams because they relied on coach Mike D'Antoni's fast-paced, "Seven Seconds or Less" offense. And, for most of his criminal life, the Penguin employed trademark trickery of his own: weaponized umbrellas and trained birds. When the Suns realized they wouldn't win a title playing that style, they traded their biggest trick (Shawn Marion, a do-it-all forward) for a more traditional player (O'Neal, a low-post center). Similarly, the Penguin abandoned his gadgets when he saw the opportunity to become wealthy a more traditional way: through organized crime. He cast aside his umbrellas and birds and opened the Iceberg Lounge, a "legitimate," high-class nightclub in which he publicly gladhands Gotham City's well-to-do while privately engages in shady dealings with mobsters.

The San Antonio Spurs are Ra's al Ghul

Popovich photo by Getty Images; al Ghul art from Batman: The Animated Series

Ra's al Ghul -- whose name translates as "The Demon's Head" -- is arguably Batman's most formidable foe. A master strategist, he managed to kidnap Robin and deduce Batman's secret identity in his first-ever appearance just as the Spurs were immediately successful in winning 56 games during Tim Duncan's first season with them. And, like the Spurs, al Ghul may be misunderstood. He wants what most people want: a clean, healthy planet in which to live, just as the Spurs want only to win a title. But the means al Ghul uses to achieve his end (terrorism, genocide) are certainly villainous, just as the Spurs' tactics (flopping, cheap-shots) are questionable. Additionally, al Ghul is immortal: he has lived for centuries by periodically immersing himself in Lazarus Pits, which are the DC Universe's equivalent to fountains of youth. Similarly, the Spurs have remained competitive for the last decade, having the highest winning percentage of any team in all four major North American sports over that timeframe.

The biggest Magic news of the day concerns Otis Smith. The team extended his contract, along with that of assistant GM Dave Twardzik, but did not disclose the terms of the extension. However, Brian Schmitz reports that Otis' deal is for three years, with the fourth year a team option. In a separate post, he writes that it's time Otis backs-up his talk of bringing a title to Orlando:

He had posters of the NBA trophy plastered throughout the team's practice facility and in their arena locker room. Players are parroting Smith's message.

It's a terrific goal and you have to like the confidence . . .. but Smith can't simply tease the faithful with championship chatter.

He's on the record --- and on the clock.

The ticking begins loudly, and in earnest, next season when all-star center Dwight Howard's five-year, $85-million maximum contract kicks in.

[....]

Smith has work to do, and little cap room left to cut the gap between the Magic and the aging Pistons and the Celtics.

He must find more help for Howard. The Magic need more defense, more big bodies and, to hear critics tell it, more point-guard assistance.

Yes indeed, the time is now for Otis to prove himself as GM. So far, he hasn't made too many personnel blunders (as long as you don't count the draft). But he hasn't distinguished himself, either. With nearly $230 million owed to Howard, Rashard Lewis, and Jameer Nelson over the next five years, Smith doesn't have much flexibility, so he'll have to prove himself by making smaller tweaks to surround his core with complementary players. But he can't do it alone. Most great teams got to where they are by fleecing incompetent GMs:

• the Celtics got Kevin Garnett, one of the best power forwards of all-time, for Al Jefferson and change;
• the Lakers got Pau Gasol without giving up anyone in their nine-man rotation;
• the Pistons got Rasheed Wallace for a first-round draft pick and assorted riffraff (including former Magic guard Chucky Atkins).

The only exception to that rule is the (now-fallen) Spurs dynasty (?) which lucked into the right to draft Tim Duncan, then drafted smartly by getting Tony Parker (28th, 2001) and Manu Ginobili (57th, 1999). And as much as most of us like Otis, we don't think of him as an R.C. Buford-type talent evaluator.

Not yet, anyway. But if he's able to draft well this year, and juggle his own free agents, Otis might establish himself as an above-average GM. While he hasn't done anything astonishing yet -- jettisoning Steve Francis, his awful attitude, and his ridiculous contract was Smith's best move, and that involved Isiah Thomas' incompetence -- he hasn't done anything worth firing him over, either. And with the team on the verge of greatness once more, it'd be unfair of the Magic to fire him.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement from me, sure, but don't get me wrong: I still believe in Otis. And so do the Magic, evidently.

And speaking of the draft, plenty of mock-draft sites updated today. Interestingly, four of the ten sites we're tracking at 3QC have the Magic selecting Memphis guard Chris Douglas-Roberts with the 22nd pick. DraftExpress thinks he is, at best, Jerry Stackhouse; that he's the best NCAA junior in the draft; and that he's the third-best shooting guard. Not bad, no?

Briefly:

• The Lakers and Celtics are set to meet in the NBA Finals again and I couldn't care less. As someone who wasn't even alive was barely a year old the last time these two teams played for the title, the history means nothing to me. As far as I'm concerned, these teams' history concerns two games from the 2007-2008 season. That's it. The only thing these Lakers and Celtics teams have in common with their historical counterparts is the wordmarks on the uniforms.
• That said, Lakers in 6.
• ... with no disrespect intended to Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who coached the Magic for the first part of this decade.
• The Bulls' all-but-official hiring of Doug Collins as their head coach makes no sense from a common-sense perspective, but perfect sense to John Paxson, their GM. And to think everyone once praised the guy for drafting Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng. As far as I'm concerned, he's the boob who traded LaMarcus Aldridge, overpaid for Andres Nocioni, and failed to trade for Pau Gasol.
• The Pistons as we know them are probably dead, as all signs point to them firing Flip Saunders and trading Rasheed Wallace. Their likely breakup saddens me; in spite of everything they did to the Magic this decade, I wanted them to win the title this year. The thought of the Lakers, Celtics, or Spurs winning it instead was just too awful to stand.
• Speaking of the Spurs... I'm not losing any sleep over their demise. And I'm glad that Robert Horry is done. Pretty soon, we won't have to listen to him say ridiculous things like "I'm smarter than probably 98 percent of this league."

Magic player-by-player evaluations start tomorrow with Carlos Arroyo and will run Monday-Friday for each of the next two weeks. See you then.

Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy takes questions at the press conference following his team's elimination from the playoffs at the hands of the Detroit Pistons last night.

Photo by Allen Einstein, NBAE/Getty Images

The last The Morning After post of the 2007/2008 season is here. Let's go around the tubes:

• Henry Abbott, TrueHoop:

  Anyone besides me disappointed in Orlando's offense down the stretch last night? (Highlights.)No one created a shot for anybody else. Almost nobody could get to the rim down the stretch. We had, essentially, Keith Bogans or Rashard Lewis hitting threes, or the occasional Hedo Turkoglu drive. And when the ball went to Dwight Howard, the Pistons just took it away. It was hard to watch. Most of the credit surely goes to the Pistons' defense, especially that majestic Tayshaun Prince shot, but I'm thinking that team needs a ball-handler who can create opportunities under duress.

  Yeah, the offense indeed stagnated last night. It almost looked like -- gulp -- Brian Hill was coaching that team. Incidentally, I think Nelson can be that ball-handler, in time.

• Kelly Dwyer, Ball Don't Lie:

  And so we say goodbye to the Orlando Magic, mindful of and unsurprised by the limitations that are sending the team home in the second round, but hopeful that the learning process and improvin' season has just begun.

  Dwyer includes his take on what the Magic need to do this offseason to become true contenders in 08/09. I'll refer back to it later this summer.

• Matt Watson, FanHouse:

  It's difficult to convey context in a sound bite, but after listening and watching Nelson address the media before and after three of the five games in this series, it's obvious the man is more competitive and confident than arrogant. His prediction didn't come true, but that's not to say his team didn't gain the respect of every person in Detroit's locker room. As Flip Saunders said during his post-game press conference, "They're a team that's going to be here a long time."

  I wasn't too pleased with Jameer after he stunk-up the offense in Game Four, but he's undoubtedly the leader of this team and he's earned my respect. I liked that he guaranteed a win. He has a great attitude and I'm happy he's a part of this team's future... although five years and $35 million is a bit more than I would have offered him...

• Bethlehem Shoals, The Sporting Blog:

  Wide: I probably said this before the last Pistons/Magic game, and ended up being wrong. Now it's come true. Rodney Stuckey will be darn good -- judging by tonight, he is already -- and will have many more playoff performances like this before his days are through. Plus his emergence is eerily similar to that of Tayshaun in the championship year.

  Trading the pick that yielded Stuckey may go down as the worst move in the Otis Smith/Dave Twardzik era. In Otis' defense, the trade looked pretty good at the time, and we got some solid production out of Carlos Arroyo until he fell off the face of the earth. Seriously. Matt from Hardwood Paroxysm asked me the other day, "What happened to Arroyo?" and I had to think for a second about to whom he might be referring.

  I forgot he was on the team.

• Basketbawful:

  Orlando managed to miss 12 freethrows and commit 21 turnovers...which led to 34 points for the Pistons. So basically -- MATH ALERT!! -- the Magic gave Detroit 46 free points, which is a lot to give away in a 5-point loss.

  As you can imagine, there's much more where that came from. Basketbawful never runs out of things to say about bad teams.

• The Blowtorch (channelling Hedo Turkoglu in the Magic's timeout before their last meaningful possession):

  Duh-white, do not have worry. Hedo will make basketball dunk shot for to win game. Only 2 points is dunk shot, so Hedo make two dunk shot. 4 point!

  Read the whole post in all its irreverent glory. I laughed a lot, and maybe I cried a little.

• Natalie, Need4Sheed:

  Surprisingly Dwight Howard walked off court as Rasheed Wallace was waling over to shake his hand after the game. Turkoglu bolted too.

  I'm a bit disappointed that the Magic didn't show good sportsmanship at the end, but then again, I'm not the one whose season the Pistons ended.

• Pradamaster, Bullets Forever:

  Capped-out Magic: Orlando's departure means the Southeast Division won't be represented in the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight season. It also gives me hope, because unless Otis Smith pulls a rabbit out of his hat, this might be the best Orlando has to offer in the future. About the only person from which we can expect internal development is Dwight Howard.

  I have a feeling PM might be onto something here. We'll look at the cap situation in a future post. Several posts, in all likelihood.

• Steve Weinman, CelticsBlog:

  This was an Orlando team that spent an entire season talking about how it wasn't getting enough love from the media, about how it belonged right up there with the rest of the Eastern elite.

  [....]

  This Magic team simply isn't there yet.

  I agree with Steve on that last point: the Magic aren't there yet. But I still don't think the Magic got enough credit for what they were able to accomplish in a single season. They're still better than the Cavaliers, and might have been able to beat the Celtics in a seven-game series if they had the opportunity. However, the road to Eastern Conference respectability runs through Auburn Hills. We'll be fine next year.

• Doug Smith, the Toronto Star:

  Okay, so some of us are out last night celebrating the Media Relations Staff Of The Year Banquet and Buntoss (replete with food, fun, frivolity and a cocktail or two) and I swear I looked up at the television and saw Marcin Gortat and Walter Herrmann on the court at the same time in the Orlando-Detroit game.

  I'm thinking if I could have seen Alex Radojevic guarding Mengke Bateer in a playoff game that might be the only better matchup. Maybe.

  The NBA: Where You Never Know Happens.

  I included this post because it mentioned Marcin Gortat. That's it.

Okay, so a ton of links later, where do we stand? On shaky ground. Any respect we earned in the regular season -- and there wasn't much of it -- is gone now. But we have all offseason to worry about that. 3QC isn't going anywhere. Stay tuned for posts recapping the season, evaluating players' performance, discussing the draft and free-agency period, and so on.

Go Magic.

Hedo Turkoglu covers his nose after taking an elbow from a Detroit player. His Magic lose, 91-86, and were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Photo by Allen Einstein, NBAE/Getty Images

21 and 3.

Those are the only numbers that matter when discussing this game. The Magic turned the ball over 21 times and forced just three turnovers themselves. Logic indicates that disparity won't get it done on any level of basketball, yet we almost stole one from Detroit tonight.

But in the end, the Pistons prevailed thanks to their clutch free-throw shooting and defense, not necessarily in that order. Looking at their defense -- not just the deflections, steals, and transition baskets, but the whole thing -- it's hard to imagine them losing more than three or four games the rest of the postseason. We actually performed (relatively) above-average in this series, with an offensive rating of 105.9, which slightly exceeds the Pistons' regular-season defensive rating of 104.2. But that's a bit misleading, because the Pistons really turn up the defensive heat when it counts the most. For most of the game, the Pistons play great defense. In crunch-time, they take it to a whole other level. We already saw the Pistons hold the Magic to 25% shooting in the fourth quarter of Game Three. Tonight, the Pistons held the Magic to 0 field goals for the first 8:18 of the final period. I repeat: the Pistons, missing their best player, held a 52-win team with the league's fifth-most efficient offense without a bucket for 8-plus fourth-quarter minutes.

We did plenty of things wrong tonight, but showed some poise at the end. We could have folded after watching the Pistons go on a 17-4 run to start the fourth period, but we didn't, going on a 7-1 run of our own to draw to within 1 point. A Rasheed Wallace miss careened out-of-bounds off a Magic player with 20 seconds to play, giving the Pistons had the ball and, more than likely, the game. The Magic were forced to foul, Rip Hamilton nailed his free throws (note: this is a pun; check the notes after the jump), but we still had a chance, trailing by 3.

On the last Magic possession of Game Four, Hedo Turkoglu took too much time sizing up Detroit's defense, giving his team no chance to get an offensive board if he missed the shot... which he did, as we know. Tonight, he wasted little time: he made up his mind that he would drive to his right around the defense of Tayshaun Prince and dunk the ball, cutting Detroit's lead to 1 and forcing the Pistons to enter a foul-shooting competition.

Prince had other ideas.

Although Turkoglu got the step on Prince, the lanky forward was recovered quickly enough to swoop in and block the dunk cleanly at the rim. Stop what you're doing right now (which is, I would hope, reading this post) and head over to Need4Sheed to look at the video. I'll give you a few seconds to pick your jaw up off the floor and/or wipe the tears from your eyes.

Back? Okay. Good.

After the Magic fouled, Hamilton made two free throws to boost the lead to 5, and Detroit had the game in-hand.

And in a game marred by sloppy play by the Magic, it's fitting that their next possession ended with a turnover. Keith Bogans, firing the ball in from the left sideline, wanted to pass to Turkoglu, who cut toward the baseline under Pistons' basket. Bogans lead him too far and the ball sailed out of bounds. DEE-troit BAS-ket-ball. Hamilton hits two free throws. Bogans comes down the other end and makes a meaningless fingeroll, the Pistons inbound, and the clock expires.

FIN.

But even in this close game in which they turned the ball over on one-quarter of their possessions (?!), the Magic might have been in it, or even won, if they had just made their damn free throws. Instead, they let their playoff inexperience show, and connected on 16 of their 28 free throws. As expected, Dwight Howard "lead" the way in the CLANK department, going 6-of-15 from the stripe. Howard's a notoriously awful foul shooter, but 40% is bad, even for him. Rashard Lewis, a usually accurate free throw shooter, went 4-of-6.

Throughout this season, many Magic fans found themselves lamenting a lack of a "Plan B" for the team to use when its three-pointers weren't falling. Tonight, their gameplan was to get Howard -- who struggled in Game Four, shooting 3-of-12 for 8 points -- involved in the offense early. And the team used this plan to a fault; they drove it into the ground. Several times in the first quarter, Lewis got the ball on the wing and assumed the triple-threat position, yet kept his eyes locked on Howard.

And locked.

And locked.

And rather than pass the ball to somebody else, or dribble, or shoot, or anything, Lewis would throw the ball to Dwight, even though both Lewis' and Howard's defenders had their hands in the passing lanes. The result? Turnovers. As we mentioned.

But it wasn't all bad, I suppose. Jameer Nelson, heavily (and unfairly -- I still can't get over that) criticized for his guarantee of a Magic victory, did his part to aid his team's cause. He scored 14 on 6-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. And he played solid defense on Rodney Stuckey for most of the night, although Stuckey warmed up as the game progressed. He showed poise, unlike Howard, his co-captain, who always looks flustered when he plays the Pistons. I hope some Pistons fans will at least respect Nelson's effort.

Perhaps surprisingly, this loss doesn't bother me too much. Yes, we played poorly, but it wasn't the sort of lazy/awful brand of basketball that killed us in our December-through-January slump. Yes, our season is over, but for the first time in a long time, we know we'll be back, and better, next season. We're relevant again, and have earned some respect around the league -- not enough, but some, which is more than we had last year.

And, on a more selfish note, the season ending allows me to do stuff I've missed out on over the past several months: spending time with my girlfriend, spending time with my cat, reading for fun, etc. And I can sleep easily knowing that this year was only the beginning of the climb back to elite status in this league.

So, Detroit advances to the Eastern Conference Finals for the sixth straight year. We can only hope to have similar success. Kudos to the Pistons and to their fans.

Two brief game notes after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

The Magic held a 60-48 lead over the Pistons with 9:23 to play in the third quarter of Game Four, and gained possession after referee Joe Crawford whistled Detroit's Antonio McDyess for offensive basket interference. At the 9:11 mark, Maurice Evans hit a three-pointer to give the Magic a 15-point advantage. As the media have well documented, the Pistons went on a 15-0 run to tie the game, and eventually won it with Tayshaun Prince's running hook with 00:08.9 to play in the fourth quarter. But whom should the Magic blame for their miscues? This table sums it up, from the 8:55 mark of the third (when Rodney Stuckey missed a three-pointer for Detroit) to the 2:56 mark of the third (when Richard Hamilton tied the game at 63 with a fast-break dunk):

Likewise, whom should the Pistons praise for their resurgence? Again, we have a table:

Yahoo!'s Kelly Dwyer and 3QC reader Eyriq both pointed out the appropriateness of this website's name after the Magic lost thanks to a blown third-quarter lead. I've already explained that I started the original site at Blogspot after a similar loss to the Sacramento Kings during the 2006/2007 season. But that's not when I came up with the site's name. In fact, I didn't come up with it at all.

My mom did.

Flashback to 2006. Somehow or another, my dad won free tickets to a Magic game. We went to claim them, hoping to choose the Lakers' visit to Orlando as our prize. As it turns out, we didn't have the ability to choose which game we'd attend, and the Magic representative gave us two tickets to see the Milwaukee Bucks on January 31st. The Magic won big, 98-73, and held a 56-29 lead at halftime, but almost gave the game back in the third quarter after being outscored, 24-13. "Just another third-quarter collapse by the Magic," Mom said later, describing the game. The phrase stuck with me, and I kept it in mind when I started the old site.

And that was that.

Some notes and references after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

When the Magic beat the Pistons in Game Three, Brendan of the blog Believing in Magic called it "karma." Fair enough. But if the Pistons come out and eat our lunches tomorrow afternoon, we can blame karma for that, too.

Before Game Three, the Orlando Sentinel posted these Rasheed Wallace mask cutouts on its website. I feared the worst, believing that 'Sheed would feed off the crowd's negative energy and have a monster game. He did the exact opposite and finished with 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting, and he took some terrible shots that killed the Pistons' momentum when they were clawing back into the game. So we dodged that bullet, so to speak.

But this flash animation on the Sentinel's site... oh, man. That's bad news. When I first saw it, I laughed a little bit. Actually, I laughed a lot. C'mon, it's funny: click on Rasheed once, and he starts crying. Click again, and a pacifier pops into his mouth and he shuts up.

OrlandoSentinel.com

But then I thought about it some more: the Sentinel is Orlando's go-to newspaper. It's where out-of-towners are going to look for Magic perspective. And when it does amateurish, unprofessional stuff like that, it does more than damage its reputation: it damages the city's reputation.

That's something for which I cannot stand.

Even during the Shaq-and-Penny glory days, we had a reputation as living in a Mickey Mouse town. In a literal sense, that much is true: the Disney World theme parks put us on the map, and -- duh -- they're still here. Nevermind the fact that no Orlando resident I know visits Disney more than once every few years. To out-of-towners, though, it appears as though we're little more than a town of cloying sports neophytes and mouse-ear-wearing idiots. The fact that Disney sponsors some Magic games hurts our cause. Oh, and the team's name itself -- Magic -- evokes the Magic Kingdom theme park. Wonderful.

To combat that reputation, we need to show that we know what we're talking about when it comes to sports. I'm trying to do my part, but I'm not delusional. I am not influential. The Sentinel is. And, as a professional, mainstream-media establishment, it should have more respect for itself and its readers than to post silly flash animations like that. If the Sentinel's editors want to have some fun, that's fine. But they should do so tastefully, lest they swing karma back in the Pistons' favor.

Rashard Lewis celebrates after drilling one of his five three-pointers in the Orlando Magic's 111-86 rout of the Detroit Pistons. Lewis scored a career playoff-high 33 points.

Photo by Doug Benc, NBAE/Getty Images

The Orlando Magic came out blazing against the Detroit Pistons tonight, jumping out to an early 24-8 lead in the first quarter, and staved off a third-quarter run by the Pistons to clean their clock pummel them by a 25-point margin, 111-86.

First, I have to encourage us to curb our enthusiasm: it's only one game. When some Pistons fans left my section late in the fourth quarter, Magic fans taunted them unmercifully, but one Piston fan held up two fingers on one hand and one on the other to symbolize the Pistons still have a 2-1 lead in the series. Further, Detroit was without its best player for all but the first 3 minutes of the game, as Chauncey Billups left with a strained hamstring and did not return. Last, this Pistons team has a poor record in Game Threes, as Orlando Sentinel writer David Whitley mentioned after the game.

But...

The Pistons still got 19 points from Billups' backup, Rodney Stuckey, and got 24 points from their best scoring threat, Richard Hamilton. When Stuckey left after acquiring his second foul, Tayshaun Prince ran the offense well as a point forward and the Pistons played the Magic essentially evenly, outscoring them 16-15 until Stuckey checked back in to run the point. Most importantly, Billups would not have changed the Pistons defense -- or lack thereof -- on Rashard Lewis, who saved his best offensive night for the Magic's most important game of the season. Lewis was simply unstoppable, scoring 33 points on 15 shots (!), taking only what the defense gave him and not forcing the issue. Stan Van Gundy called plenty of isolation plays for him, more than any other game this season, and Lewis converted with a variety of drives. He also had the signature shot of the game to start the fourth quarter. Matched up at the top of the key with Rasheed Wallace, a great defender, right in his face, Lewis jab-stepped a few times, faked, fired, and drilled a three to give the Magic a 76-69 lead. That shot, moreso than the three-pointer Keyon Dooling hit just moments later, sealed the game as a win for us, at least as far as I'm concerned.

But the Dooling three was pretty tremendous. The circumstances around it are as follows: a Dwight Howard missed free throw caromed out long to the right wing. Stuckey grabbed the rebound on the sideline before losing his balance and falling out-of-bounds right in front of Detroit's bench. Initially, official Joe DeRosa signaled for the Magic to get possession. But after Pistons coach Flip Saunders said a few words to him, DeRosa changed the call to a foul on Hedo Turkoglu. On the ensuing (and wrongfully awarded) possession, Rasheed Wallace missed a long two-pointer. The Magic got the rebound and pushed the ball ahead to Dooling, who hit the shot to give the Magic an 80-69 lead.

Another word on Wallace: he was not at his best tonight. He got in foul trouble, jawed with the refs, and the Amway Arena crowd rewarded him with the most vociferous booing it's given any other opponent this season, louder than even the one it gave former Magic players Shaquille O'Neal and Grant Hill in their returns with new teams.

But as big as Lewis was, the difference in the game was Dwight Howard. He had "only" 12 rebounds, but dominated defensively and proved to be, as one in-arena sign termed it, "Pystonite." His six swatted shots discouraged further Pistons penetration, forcing them to take midrange shots, some of which they still managed to convert. Still, I'd rather Detroit score two points via a contested jumper than via a layup, so I can live with those makes.

So, which team should we favor to win Game Four? I'm undecided. On the one hand, our offense has improved in each game and the Pistons might be without Billups, who won't be at 100% even if he does play. On the other hand, this thumping may have woken the Pistons up, and they could come out looking for blood Saturday and effectively end the series with a win. Additionally, as Brian from Empty the Bench points out, the Pistons made a game of it late in the third quarter even with all the odds (no Billups, foul trouble for Wallace, no offense from Jason Maxiell) stacked against them:

And, still, the Pistons whittled the Magic's lead down to just 3 points by the end of the 3rd quarter. Orlando rattled off a 9-0 run to the start the 4th, however, and the Pistons never recovered

 

All the credit in the world to Orlando for their Game 3 win. They deserved it. [....] I'm not convinced they [The Magic] will [win Game 4] though. And I'm not convinced they'll win another game in the 2008 playoffs, period.

Anyway, let's savor this win as best we can tonight... and savor our free donut tomorrow morning.

Note: I wrote this post before last night's Game Two between the Magic and the Pistons.

Last week, Ellen of the Cavaliers blog And One posted this thoughtful rundown of mental toughness in sports using a 2007 article from The Sports Psychologist as a backdrop. As the Magic face the Detroit Pistons, a team famous for playing mind games with its opponents, in these playoffs, it seems pertinent to discuss the Pistons' mental advantage: other than skill, what sets them apart from the Magic?

The Sports Psychologist article which Ellen referenced breaks-up mental toughness into this framework. Refer to the scans at And One for the full explanation of each sub-category:

1. Attitude/Mindset
   • Belief
   • Focus
2. Training
   • Using long-term goals as the source of motivation
   • Controlling the environment
   • Pushing yourself to the limit
3. Competition
   • Handling pressure
   • Belief
   • Regulating performance
   • Staying focused
   • Awareness and control of thoughts and feelings
   • Controlling the environment
4. Postcompetition
   • Handling failure
   • Handling success

The branch in which I have the most interest is "Attitude/mindset." How do the inexperienced Magic, in just the second year of the Dwight Howard Playoff Era, compare with the veteran Pistons, which have made the Eastern Conference Finals in each of the last five seasons with the same core of players? One of the tenets of "Attitude/mindset," as the article explains, is "Having and unshakable self-belief as a result of total awareness of how you got to where you are now." Consider that, then examine this quote from Pistons guard Chauncey Billups, courtesy John Denton:

"That's what we do. We play physical and we feed off other teams when they try to be physical on us," he said. "It's like somebody coming to you house and doing exactly what you wanted. They feed right into what you wanted them to do. (The Magic) play hard, but they don't play as physical as us, but they shoot that three-pointer. If they can do that, they have a chance. But if they want to rough it up, it's going to be tough."

Of course, the Magic know what they have to do. Here's Keyon Dooling, from the same Denton article:

"More so than getting caught up in their physical game, we've got to take care of us," Dooling said. "We've got to make our shots and do what we've been doing all year."

Another tenet is "Having an inner arrogance that makes you believe that you can achieve anything you set your mind to." If there's any single word that describes the Pistons' demeanor, it's "arrogant." Heck, it sure didn't take long for Pistons center Theo Ratliff, who's been with the Pistons for fewer than three months, to adopt Detroit's trademark swag:

"Look at the [veteran big] guys we have. We've already played against the greatest who ever played -- Hakeem [Olajuwan], [Patrick] Ewing, David Robinson -- there is nobody we haven't seen or guarded," said Pistons backup center Theo Ratliff. "Sure, Dwight is an imposing player, but it's not something we're really worried about."

The Pistons aren't worried about containing Howard, the Magic's All-Star center and overall best player? Well, why should they be? His attitude in this series leaves much to be desired. Let's set the scene with two quotes, the first from Pistons forward Jason Maxiell, one of the four different Pistons who defended Dwight in Game One, telling reporters explaining how he and his teammates held our Superman in-check:

"You pretty much just have to get underneath him [Howard] and you're OK," Maxiell said. "He has really strong, broad shoulders, but you get down low and take his legs out from under him. He's not very powerful down low because his legs aren't very strong. There are ways to play him."

When informed of these comments, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy agreed with Maxiell's assessment, saying that Dwight needs a "stronger base." But Dwight himself disagreed, saying flatly, "That's not true. Trust me." So Dwight says he believes in himself, but does that sound bite actually convince you of anything? If anything, it sounds like Dwight's trying to convince himself.

But it gets worse. After the game, Howard said, "I don't think I even looked up at the scoreboard for a while. It's disappointing." Those are disconcertingly weak words for a guy who dominated the first round of the playoffs by having three games of 20-plus points and 20-plus rebounds in the series. Where are those performances? Where is the intensity he showed in the first round when he earned a technical foul after getting in Carlos Delfino's face after Delfino tried to hack him on a dunk attempt? Maybe Rasheed Wallace was right when he likened Dwight to his "intern." Dwight can't be afraid to man-up against Wallace or any of his teammates.

It should go without saying that Dwight Howard is the Magic's key to success, now and in the future. He must get himself back on track after a disastrous Game One in which he scored 12 points and grabbed 8 rebounds -- well below his averages. The Magic have no chance to win this series with Dwight struggling so mightily, especially when Tayshaun Prince shuts-down Hedo Turkoglu, the Magic's other big scoring threat. "Superman" must punish Maxiell, Wallace, Ratliff, and Antonio McDyess -- the foursome which RaptorsForum dubbed Detroit's "Legion of Doom" -- by attacking the basket as soon as he receives the ball and by being more active on the offensive boards. The Pistons are a great team, to be sure, but they aren't invincible. Dwight can be, when he wants to.

Advantage, Magic.

The Magic's Jameer Nelson tied for the team lead in scoring with 22 points, but it didn't matter, as Orlando fell to Detroit, 100-93, facing a 2-0 series deficit in its best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup.

Photo by Allen Einstein, NBAE/Getty Images

Let's get one thing out of the way: the Magic did not lose tonight's game because of the three-point basket that the Pistons were erroneously awarded at the end of the third quarter. Odenized (who else?) has the video of the whole bizarre sequence at YouTube:

As you can see, the game-clock malfunctioned, and only three-tenths of a section went off the clock despite the Pistons inbounding the ball, taking three dribbles, passing, taking another dribble, then passing again to Chauncey Billups for the shot.

That basket gave the Pistons a 78-76 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Magic had 12 minutes to overcome a two-point deficit. Yes, they should have started the quarter with a one-point lead, but there's no way to guarantee that it would have made any difference. A lot can happen in 12 minutes of basketball, so let's not waste our time complaining about an error the officials were not even allowed to fix, given the current replay rules, and instead use in constructively on figuring out why we lost.

First, we turned the ball over entirely too much (19 turnovers on 87 possessions), forcing the issue early in the game and down the stretch. Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, and Dwight Howard combined for 17 of those turnovers, although we can attribute most of Dwight's miscues to soreness in his left thumb, which made it hard for him to hang onto passes. Our gameplan seemed to be "get the ball to Dwight!" and, although it worked well when executed, both Lewis and Turkoglu were guilty of telegraphing their entry passes, which the Pistons easily deflected or stole. Turkoglu in particular had a horrible offensive game. His rushed three-point jumper -- there were 21 seconds on the shot clock. Turk! -- with the Magic down 2 points and 48 seconds to play doomed us. It's bad enough he shot it just 3 seconds into the possession. What makes it worse is the fact that he did not set his feet OR follow through. Our greatest fears have come true: Hedo, our greatest fourth-quarter player, has developed a hero complex.

This shot was eerily similar to the fadeaway three for which he settled at the buzzer of the Magic's 103-102 loss to the Timberwolves in mid-April. After that game, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said, "I didn't like the shot because he wasn't set." Well, I hope Hedo hears it from Stan and from the media after tonight's game: that rushed shot, more than anything else we did offensively, doomed us.

There's also the matter of defense. We held Richard Hamilton to 14 points on 4-of-18 shooting, but we had no answer for Detroit's other three big guns: Billups, Tayshaun Prince, and Rasheed Wallace combined for 62 points on 23-of-42 shooting. Now, Billups' total -- 28 -- is a bit nflated due to the fouling we did late in the game when it got out of hand, and Jameer Nelson was no slouch offensively with 22 points of his own. Still, when Wallace and Prince create mismatches like that, Detroit is tough to beat. We simply don't have an answer for those two players. Prince is too quick for Turkoglu to guard, yet too tall for Maurice Evans to guard. Similarly, Wallace has too much range for Dwight to handle, yet too good a post game for Rashard to handle. And that, in a nutshell, is how the Pistons have stayed on top of the East for so long: they have four guys who can beat tyou, by themselves, on any given night.

But let's give ourselves some credit for fighting back from a fourteen-point deficit against a superior team on its home floor. Let's also credit the Pistons, for clamping down on defense when it mattered most: we scored 17 points on 25 fourth-quarter possessions for an offensive rating of 68.0.

Let me recognize some strong efforts from our guys before I wrap this thing up: Jameer's 22 points were fantastic, and tonight was his best game against Detroit by far in his career. People may point to Billups' gaudy 28 points, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Jameer took, and made, some big shots of his own, and his five three-pointers are the only reason we were in the game in the second half anyway. And Dwight Howard, with 22 points and 18 rebounds, was tremendous. He fared well against each Piston who defended him, even throwing down a furious two-handed slam in the face of that #42 fellow on the Pistons, the one whose name escapes me.

Photo by Gregory Shamus, Getty Images

Dwight did a lot of the dirty work tonight and recovered nicely from his poor Game One effort.

I don't know the exact statistic, but if memory serves, when the team with home-court advantage in a seven-game series wins its first two games, it goes on to win the series 94% of the time. But I'm not counting us out quite yet. Turnovers and boneheaded shot-selection aside, we still played a heckuva game tonight, and as I said in the Hoops Addict podcast I did last night, there's no shame in losing to a better team, especially when you put up a fight, which we did tonight.

For more on tonight's game, check out Matt Watson's pregame interview with Rashard Lewis. Also check out this unscientific poll at OrlandoSentinel.com, in which 76% of respondents blame poor officiating for the Magic's loss tonight, at least at the time of this post.