Do we need close games?

[Die Mannschaft 45]

It seems like sweeping teams in the playoffs is frowned upon now?I know basketball fans loves close games and buzzer-beaters,but whats wrong with having a good lead in a game and keeping it that way.Why let them comeback in the fourth quarter and give them confidence to win?If the lakers played the bobcats and hawks and swept them,nobody will would say their unprepared or any of the other crap they've been saying about the magic.

 

Just keep riding the bandwagon ESPN.

[Die Mannschaft 45]

It seems like sweeping teams in the playoffs is frowned upon now?I know basketball fans loves close games and buzzer-beaters,but whats wrong with having a good lead in a game and keeping it that way.Why let them comeback in the fourth quarter and give them confidence to win?If the lakers played the bobcats and hawks and swept them,nobody will would say their unprepared or any of the other crap they've been saying about the magic.

 

Just keep riding the bandwagon ESPN.

[anish_vince 0]

of course a sweep and blowouts are GREAT.... but the fact is.. ECF is not gonna be like that.... we're gonna have CLOSE games... and we gotta execute on big plays... itll be a challenge...

specially after sweeping 2 diff teams....

 

anyways... the way we ballin, and the attitude of the guys... it seems great... so we should be fine .. its ALL ABOUT WINNING BALL GAMES..

[bhnole 153]

The really great championship teams of the past did not play a lot of close games. They would break open a lead in the 3rd and force the other team to play from behind.

 

So far we have been superb in the 3rd quarters.

[Miller4Prez64 1]

I can somewhat get where the analysts are coming from. But it's not like this team has never faced adveristy before. Infact, we faced way too much adversity in the playoffs last year. We were beaten at the buzzer four seperate times last year, but still found a way to fight our way into the Finals.

 

Last year the playoffs were a roller coaster, it feels good to be on a smooth ride right now with the way things have gone. But you expect to have hard battles from now on, we aren't going to be playing the Bobcats or Hawks anymore.

[dreamingincolors 0]

I understand the logic behind the need for having close games. Because with each close game you have, you gain the experience needed so you know what to do when you are back in that situation. But I'm not too sure if the experts watched all 82 games the Magic played this past season. They didn't have many close games. Many of their games were blowouts, some of them were come from behind, some big leads lost and then game over, some big leads which were chipped away but hung around long enough to win. I wonder if they had 20 close games this season.

 

So I went back and did a little research: For the playoff squads that are standing (Cleveland, Celtics, Lakers, Sun), these are the results.

 

Cleveland

• Date / Score

Nov 11 93-102 (L, 2nd night of a back to back)

Feb 11 106-115 (L, 2nd night of a b2b)

Feb 21 101-95 (W)

Apr 11 98-92 (W)

 

Boston

Nov 20 83-78 (W)

Dec 25 77-86 (L)

Jan 28 96-94 (W, came from behind, down 11 points starting 4th quarter)

Feb 7 96-89 (W)

 

Lakers

Jan 18 92-98 (L)

Mar 7 96-94 (W)

 

Phoenix

Nov 4 122-100 (W)

Dec 11 106-103 (L, 2nd night of a b2b)

 

So, between these 4 teams, Magic have played 12 games, there were 3 games where the Magic lost by 9 points-the largest between the 4 teams- (2 games loses came from the 2nd night of a b2b) and 9 of them were close games in which Magic only lost 2. Now, I know many will tell me "but these aren't playoff games" but I clearly remembered each team were saying this is going to be a "playoff" like atmosphere and that many will be playing like the playoffs. So hopefully these games were close enough that the Magic team can draw from.

 

FYI: Some of these games look really close, but I guess it's only because the box score is all you see, some of those games were come from behind--but you had to see the games to understand what I meant. For example, like the game Jan 28th vs. Boston, Magic did come from behind and Rashard hit the game winner.

[gporter 5]

Game 2 against Atlanta? Game 3 against Charlotte? Were these games not relatively close at one point or another?

[Emory889 353]

Most of our roster has played, and played well, in close playoff games. This notion that we won't know how to react to a close game in the 4th quarter is complete fiction.

[Franchero MVP 391]

No, and I am sick of hearing about this stupid concept.

 

We've been there before; we know what to do.

 

Cleveland didn't lose to us last year because they were uncontested in the first 2 rounds. They lost because the Magic were just a better team.

 

We exposed their flaws and used it to our advantage. Simple as that. No amount of "close games" could have helped them against us.

[eturak 0]

As long as we stay brutal, we'll be fine.