SIXERS SHOCK MAGIC IN OPENING GAME OF SERIES

The Orlando Magic looked like a serious potential roadblock for Boston and Cleveland’s championship aspirations during the regular season.  In game one of their opening round series against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday they looked like a team full of playoff neophytes desperately in need of veteran leadership.  The Magic blew an 18 point third quarter advantage to eventually lose to the Sixers at home by a 100-98 score.

Philadelphia looked downright awful down the stretch in the regular season, losing six of their final seven games.  The knowledge of this late season swoon could have made the Magic complacent after building such a big lead late, figuring that the Sixers were a team that wouldn’t have the toughness to come back.  That proved not to be the case as Philadelphia—down 14 at the start of the 4^th quarter—outscored Orlando 35-19 during the final twelve minutes of play to steal the game one victory.

 Andre Iguodala was the leading scorer for the victorious Sixers, scoring 20 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 8 assists.  Reserve Lou Williams contributed 18, Andre Miller 15 and Thaddeus Young 14.  After the game, Iguodala was clearly excited by his team’s furious comeback and upset victory:

"We won one more game than people thought we would win. I was pretty amped up."

Orlando was lead by Dwight Howard’s ‘double/double’ consisting of 31 points and 16 rebounds.  Courtney Lee added 18 points while Rafer Alston and Rashard Lewis scored 15 apiece. 

In his postgame comments, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy criticized his team’s mental approach to the game:

"I was very surprised at the effort. I was surprised not only for our lack of intensity defensively, but I was really surprised with our lack of focus."

Orlando forward Rashard Lewis tried to keep a cool head by providing some perspective:

"It's a loss on your home court and now home-court advantage is toward them. But this is the playoffs. It's not the NCAA tournament. One game is not going to eliminate you."

Magic center Dwight Howard concurred:

"This is a game that we should have won. But there's no need to panic. We just have to come our with a better effort."

Game two will take place on Wednesday night at Orlando’s Amway Arena, with the series shifting to Philadelphia at the end of the week for games three and four.