Hedo Turkoglu rubs Jameer Nelson's head during a break in the action in Saturday evening's Orlando Magic/Detroit Pistons game. Detroit won, 90-89, to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Photo by Doug Benc, Getty Images

This game was ours for the taking, but we didn't take it. We had an 11-point halftime lead and bumped it up to 15 with a Maurice Evans three-pointer. All we had to do was to get two more stops and two more baskets. That's it. We could have gone up by 19 points and the Pistons would surely have packed it in. Instead, they went on a backbreaking 15-0 run, capped off by a fast-break dunk by Richard Hamilton.

And in the end, we only needed one basket to win. Tayshaun Prince hit a floater in the lane (thanks to an Antonio McDyess offensive rebound) to put the Pistons ahead, 90-89. Hedo Turkoglu, who scored 13 of his 20 points in the period, missed a driving layup over Prince at the buzzer to end the game and, essentially, the series. But it should not have come to that. We wasted too many opportunities to blame the loss squarely on Hedo's missed layup. Take a look at this laundry list of miscues:

• Dwight Howard's missed dunk (2:28, first quarter). This dunk wasn't heavily contested. Dwight reached back with one hand and simply threw it too hard into the back iron.
• Keyon Dooling's bad pass (11:30, second quarter). The scorer credited Keyon with the turnover, but this one was Dwight's fault. After screening for Keyon on the right baseline, Howard rolled to the basket and was wide-open. Keyon delivered a crisp bounce pass, but Howard bobbled it, and Jason Maxiell recovered for Detroit.
• Jameer Nelson's missed free throws (take your pick). Nelson, shooting 83.9% from the stripe this postseason, went just 2-of-6 from the line tonight. Sure, other guys missed free throws -- Rashard Lewis was 1-of-2 and Hedo was 4-of-5 -- but Nelson's misses simply stand out more. His miss with 44 seconds remaining kept the score 89-88, our favor. If he had made it, Tayshaun Prince's floater with 8.9 left in the game would have tied the score, not given the Pistons the lead.

Obviously, I'm disappointed we lost, but we still got some great efforts:

• Hedo was huge in the fourth quarter, as I mentioned.
• Maurice Evans played his tail off and scored 15 points.
• Keith Bogans had 6 points and 7 boards (?!) off the bench, and he showed a new dimension in his game: the driving layup. Both of his field goals were of that variety, and they were both "and-one" plays. A shaky foul shooter, Bogans converted on both his tries.
• In just 3 minutes, Marcin Gortat showed flashes of brilliance, scoring on a beautiful hook from the left baseline (over Rasheed Wallace, no less) and on a layup. The final total for Marcin: 4 points, 1 rebound, and 1 block in just 3 minutes.

I say "just" 3 minutes for Marcin because he should have been on the floor longer. Dwight Howard had arguably his worst offensive performance as a professional, with 8 points on 3-of-12 shooting. He didn't make any shots after the first quarter. The Pistons took him out of the game by muscling him as he shot, and he did not get the benefit of the whistle. Perhaps intimidated, by their defense, he also rushed a few shots, including one put-back (3:08, second quarter) that the threw entirely too hard off the glass; all he needed to do was grab the rebound, come down with it, gather himself, and go up for the jam. With more rest -- he played the entire second half! -- he might have been able to tip-in Hedo's missed layup at the final buzzer. He might have been able to box-out McDyess (who finished with 14 rebounds) more effectively. And something tells me that Gortat would have been able to hold his own in Dwight's absence. But we'll never know for sure.

After Game Three, Yahoo!'s Kelly Dwyer wrote that we let the Pistons creep back into the game because "Jameer Nelson really enjoys shooting 20-foot jumpers." It's true. Nelson tends to settle for the jump-shot too frequently, and especially at the ends of quarters. He ended the Magic's last three first-quarter possessions on jump-shots, making the first and missing the next two. He finished with 6 assists and just 1 turnover, which is fantastic, but the 6-of-14 shooting isn't. And we covered the free-throw shooting.

That's a wrap, both for this recap and for this series. Game Five is Tuesday night in Detroit, and I expect the Pistons to close it out in big fashion on their home floor. They've earned it. Of course, I won't complain if the Magic steal one there... but I wouldn't bank on it.

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.

...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.

The Magic's Rashard Lewis gets his shit sent back is denied at the basket by the Pistons' Amir Johnson in Detroit's 101-93 victory over the Magic on Friday night.
Photo by Duane Burleson, the Associated Press

The phrase "No Rip? No Problem" started the headline of the Associated Press' recap of the first meeting between these two teams this season. Eliminate the two negatives in the phrase and you're left with "Rip? Problem"... which is exactly what we faced tonight. Richard "Rip" Hamilton scored 32 points on 14-of-22 shooting to lead the Pistons in a curb-stomping against us tonight.

Just a bad game. The Magic, as usual, had no answer for Hamilton or for Chauncey Billups, who repeatedly broke-down our sub-standard defense and got the shots they wanted, usually uncontested. The Magic ended the third quarter on a 14-2 run after getting some much-needed stops, but obviously never capitalized against a team that is clearly in a higher class.

The frustrating thing is, as badly as we played, we could have been right there at the end with a better effort. Letting the Pistons rebound 40% of their own misses is inexcusable, and we have done better against them; they only got 27% in the first meeting and 26% in the second one, which is about average. And I don't know what it is about Detroit, but we just do not capitalize on our free-throw attempts against them: 25-of-39 tonight, 75-of-109 overall. Beating them on Monday did nothing to boost our confidence, as they appear to have a mental advantage on us.

This game leaves me asking lots of questions, but there's one answer it's given me: we have a long way to go to get to Detroit's level. We absolutely have to beat Boston on Sunday if we are to have any shot of legitimizing ourselves in the East. Right now, I'd put the Celtics, Pistons, Cavaliers, and Raptors ahead of us, with the Wizards not far behind. If we don't pick up the defensive intensity, we're looking at another first-round playoff exit.

I feel somewhat obligated to say something nice about one of our players, so I'll get to it:

• Carlos Arroyo deserves recognition for his 16-point, 6-assist effort, 1-turnover effort. He gets bonus points for throwing an elbow at Billups late in the game. Yeah, it was a cheap play, and it's not one that I usually advocate. But the Pistons dish out a lot of punishment, and it was nice to see at least one player take it to them.
• Hedo Turkoglu had a decent third-quarter and was probably our best hope at winning the game; he had his midrange jumper going, which was nice.
• Keyon Dooling didn't play great, but came back in the second half after having to be helped off the floor in the first half with a knee contusion. Way to play through pain, Keyon.
• Jameer Nelson, although inactive, enhanced my viewing experience by wearing a sharp tan suit, a blue shirt, and a blue-and-silver tie. It was glorious in HD.

No donuts tomorrow. I'm disappointed, and I'm sure Brian Cook is too.

Hedo Turkoglu's most recent game-winning play for the Magic this season, a tough driving layup to beat the Raptors in Game Two.

Hedo Turkoglu is the NBA's Most Improved Player.

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reported the news earlier today. The Magic have called a news conference for tomorrow afternoon but haven't specified a reason. The award is indeed Hedo's, and deservedly so (no disrespect intended to Rudy Gay, Rajon Rondo, or Andrew Bynum).

We outlined how awesome Turk is in this post last week, but let's go over some stats: Turk set career highs in points per game (19.5), rebounds per game (5.7), assists per game (5.0), minutes per game (36.9), field goal percentage (.456), and games played (82, and he started all of them). Regarding advanced metrics, Turk had a career-best in Player Efficiency Rating (17.8) and effective field goal percentage (.524). Additionally, he was one of four players to average 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists this season, joining Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Vince Carter. Yeah, and we laughed at him when he told the Sentinel in November he thought he could be an All-Star.

We'd like to congratulate Hedo for winning this coveted award, and thank him for playing so well for us this season. Hopefully, he'll celebrate the achievement by helping us dispatch the Raptors. It'd be a fitting way for us to advance in the playoffs.

Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, and Keith Bogans celebrate the Magic's come-from-behind victory in Game Four of their first-round playoff series with the Toronto Raptors.
Photo by J.P. Moczulski, The Canadian Press

I don't think there are enough words to describe how proud I am -- and how proud we all should be -- of our team. The Magic outscored the Raptors, 33-20, in the final period of yesterday's Game Four to secure a 106-94 victory and a 3-games-to-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Our guys battled back from an early deficit to seize control of the game in the fourth quarter. Allow me to heap superlatives on them:

• Rashard Lewis tied a season-high with 27 points, and set a season-high with 13 rebounds (aided by a career-high-tying 7 offensive rebounds)
• Dwight Howard set a career-high with 8 blocked shots, which also sets a Magic franchise record for blocks in a playoff game. His final swat came with two minutes to play and the Raptors trailing by only 5. The Magic got the rebound and Rashard Lewis drilled a back-breaking three-pointer to seal the win.
• Jameer Nelson played a nearly flawless fourth quarter, with 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting. The only blemish on his line that period? 2-of-4 from the free throw line. That's it. That's all he did wrong. This effort coming from a guy who collapsed after Game Three due to bak spasms. Outstanding.

Basically, we had an answer for everything Toronto threw at us. 39 points for Chris Bosh? Fine. 13 assists for T.J. Ford? Okay. Didn't matter. We were simply the better, gutsier team yesterday, and that bodes well for us as the series continues.

That's not to say we're worldbeaters or anything. Being up 3-1 is nice and all, but it doesn't mean we're about to win the series. The last time we were up 3-1, well, the Pistons ate our lunch in the next three games thanks to Tracy McGrady's big mouth, so pardon me for not pulling out the confetti just yet. But our victory yesterday was so impressive that Yahoo!'s Kelly Dwyer thinks we'll make the Finals by 2009 if we strengthen our second unit. I hate to forecast so far into the future, but there's no question that we're making a strong case for belonging in the discussion about the NBA's elite teams.

I am thoroughly impressed with the victory. A similar effort tomorrow night, even if Jose Calderon (2 points, 1-of-7 shooting) and Ford (12 points, 6-of-16 shooting) finally get back on track, should result in a series victory and a spot in the second round of the playoffs.

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."