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 beat the Raptors last night, 104-103, to take a 2-0 series lead before heading to Toronto for Games Three and Four. Dwight Howard once again dominated, posting 29 points and 20 rebounds, and his rejection of a Chris Bosh hook-shot -- his third block of the night -- with 23 seconds left to play essentially sealed the game for us. The Raptors fouled Hedo Turkoglu on the ensuing play, and he made both his free throws to extend the lead to three points. The Magic surrendered a layup to Carlos Delfino, knowing that the Raptors would have to foul the rest of the way. A questionable offensive foul call on Keyon Dooling gave the Raptors the game's final possession, but Bosh's fadeaway 21-footer at the buzzer (a play-call with which The Arsenalist was not pleased) fell short.

As with the first game in the series, the difference in last night's game was the Raptors' poor first-quarter play. Mitchell's team was unprepared yet again. The Raptors coach used the same ineffective starting lineup in Game Two that he did in Game One, and the result was essentially the same: Toronto trailed by 17 points after the first quarter last night, although by different means than when it trailed by 20 points after the first quarter in Game One. Whereas the Magic blew Game One open with nine three-pointers in the first frame, they blew Game Two open with fast-break baskets. Not to pile too heavily on Mitchell, but his team has surrendered an average of 39 points in the first quarters of its playoff games this year. It doesn't matter, in the won/loss column, anyway, that the Raptors rebound from their slow starts to match or exceed the Magic in the rest of the games. Their poor starts are dooming them.

In some ways, I'm happier with the win last night than I was with the blowout victory in Game One. Yes, margin of victory is a better indicator of team's ability level than simple won/lost record, and from that standpoint, Game One was a more impressive showing. But what I'm impressed with is our ability to win even though the three-point shot -- the most important part of our offense -- wasn't falling. We also managed to keep our composure in a hotly contested game when we could have melted down. Last year's team might have given up when the Raptors took a one-point lead with one minute to play, but we stuck with it. Confidence works wonders.

I want to say that we'll bury the Raptors in the next two games because Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu are going to get their shots to fall at some point. However, I'm not headed to the closet to fetch the broom just yet; Lewis may not ever get it going this series. He's playing his heart out and within the flow of the offense, which I like, but he just looks fatigued. He's using so much energy trying to stop Chris Bosh defensively that he doesn't have his legs under him; all of his three-point tries last night came up well short, even from the corner, where the line is slightly closer. At least he's making other contributions, though; he had five assists and five rebounds last night, including one just before the buzzer to preserve the Magic's one-point win.

After the game, Mitchell told reporters that he plans on adjusting the Raptors' starting lineup for Game Three. He didn't offer specifics, but his plan almost certainly has to include inserting Jose Calderon and Jason Kapono into the first five, which scares me. However, the fact that he's waiting until Game Three to make rotation adjustments bodes well for us. We haven't had to change anything in this series. Everyone knows his role. Stan Van Gundy has our guys well prepared, which is why I'm confident we'll win at least one of the next two games in Toronto.

Let's not forget, though, that the last time we played north of the border, Bosh dropped 40 points on Dwight Howard, and the Raptors ran us out of the gym. Luckily for us, Dwight's playing the best basketball of his career right now, and likely won't be stopped.

Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors makes an uncontested slam-dunk after blowing by the defense of Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic. The Raptors won, 127-110.
Photo by Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images

In a horrid display of defensive ineptitude, the Orlando Magic let the Toronto Raptors score 127 points and get virtually any shot they wanted. The game featured 89 possessions, meaning the Raptors blistered the Magic for an offensive rating of 142.7. Chris Bosh abused Dwight Howard for 40 points -- two shy of his career-high -- on 14-of-16 shooting; Howard returned the favor, with 37 points -- two shy of his career-high -- on 13-of-16 shooting. With the teams' respective superstars putting on offensive clinics against one another, two factors swayed the game in Toronto's favor:

1. Hot three-point shooting;
2. Help from teammates

The first factor is no surprise. The Raptors lead the NBA in three-point percentage and feature Jason Kapono, the two-time defending three-point shootout champion. They shot 11-of-20 from downtown on the night. Granted, some of those were lucky makes. Bosh and rookie Jamario Moon, both sub-.300 three-point shooters for their careers, nailed back-to-back treys in the third quarter. But for the most part, the Raptors got the looks they wanted, and that's the Magic's fault; that's not lucky shots by usually poor shooters.

The second factor is pretty eye-popping. Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis, the Magic's two other major offensive threats, combined for 32 points on 10-of-30 shooting. They looked tired on the second night of a back-to-back, and Turkoglu was more content to defer to his teammates and finished with a team-best 9 assists. Meanwhile, Bosh's supporting cast was much more effective. Every Raptor who played more than 20 minutes shot at least 50% from the floor. Carlos Delfino and Jose Calderon combined for 7 three-pointers. Taking away the horrid play of Andrea Bargnani, the 7'0" center whom the Raptors drafted with the first overall selection in the 2006 NBA draft, the Raptors shot 46-of-72. Unreal.

As horridly as we played tonight, we shouldn't get too worried. We were on the second night of a back-to-back playing a contending team on the road. Additionally, we were coming off two great efforts against Denver and Detroit in which we held them to sub-100 offensive ratings. And with a somewhat favorable schedule to end the month, the Magic should still be in good shape headed into March and the big playoff push.

A final note on Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard: as Magic play-y-play man David Steele noted, Bosh and Howard have a good relationship, as Bosh was a freshman at Georgia Tech when Howard was a high-school senior at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. Bosh has consistently outplayed Howard in head-to-head matchups, but most reasonable NBA fans would agree that Howard is the better player and has the best shot at being a championship big-man at some point in their career. In this respect, the Bosh/Howard relationship resembles that of Chris Paul and Deron Williams, the two point guards forever linked because of their draft class. Williams has beaten Paul in 7 of his Jazz's 8 head-to-head meetings with Paul's Hornets, and has consistently outplayed him in those meetings, yet Paul is a much better player and a bona-fide MVP candidate. It will be interesting to see how the Bosh/Howard relationship plays out as their careers progress. Although Detroit and Boston are clearly in a class by themselves in the Eastern Conference, they're also much older than Toronto and Orlando. Cleveland is another great team, but they don't have a young, dominant big-man. Thus, there's a great chance that Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard will do battle in several Eastern Conference Finals series in the years to come.

And I can't wait.