Feeling Cavalier

Last night was a crushing defeat for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and it's time to reflect on the series to date. This series is beginning to feel a lot like the 2004 Pistons-Lakers matchup in the NBA Finals and the 2007 Mavericks-Warriors first-round matchup. The Magic is playing the role of the Pistons and Warriors: feisty teams that have taken the momentum from the more talented favorites. In 2004, the balanced and scrappy Pistons trounced the much-favored Lakers who had a star-laden roster with the likes of Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton and Karl Malone. In 2007, the top-seeded Mavs, the best team in the league in the regular year, faced an upstart Warriors club that played a frenetic style with a bunch of half insane players.

I realized this last night when Mickael Pietrus made a number of big plays on both sides of the ball. Why Pietrus? He was a key player on the 2007 Warriors. The Magic remind a lot of those Pistons and Warriors: balanced scoring, decent defense and nothing to lose. They keep coming at you in waves, with similar players and matchup nightmares in Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and Pietrus. All 6-9 or so and 3-point bombers.

The Magic have been laughing and smiling a lot, even in tense moments. The Cavs, court jesters when winning, look completely dejected. The Cavs won 66 games in the regular season and have home court advantage throughout the playoffs. And so they've played much tighter than Orlando, which came into Quicken Loans Arena with fearlessness for Games 1 and 2. Save for one miracle shot by LeBron James, the Magic would lead 3-0 right now. Winning 66 games takes a lot out of a team--especially one that has never done it before. Maybe fatigue is part of this, too.

Some are suggesting not to panic. For these grave-whistlers, everything's fine and Cleveland has Orlando right where it wants 'em. But these sanguine folks likely are in for a shock in the next few days. It's hard to picture a scenario in which the Cavs turn this around. I'll be pulling for them hard tomorrow night in Game 4, though.

P.S. The officiating in this series has been terrible. NBA refereeing has become a perverse, ass-backwards experience. These people actually relish making bad calls now. It seems to have become exacerbated in the playoffs. I've never seen so many obvious out-of-bounds deflections called the wrong way. And clean blocked shots called fouls. It's becoming routine.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy raised a good point yesterday. Every time James dribbles it results in a score or a foul. I know James is great, and I'm rooting for him, but it is bizarre that this could be the case. Then again, last night, even the refs allowed the Magic to get two clean blocks on No. 23.