Author: Matt Pelc | Article Posted at: May 28, 09 - 6:39 pm

Orlando Magic vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

Game 5: Magic at Cavaliers (ORL leads series 3-1)

There have been some rather thin years between the one and only Finals berth for the Orlando Magic and being on the cusp of returning there against the heavily favored Cleveland Cavaliers, who hope a return home will help them stay alive and try to battle back from the 3-1 deficit they find themselves in.

The Magic were not supposed to win the series, so they may be relaxed for Thursday’s Game 5. They were one freak shot away from sweeping the series and were the only team this postseason to, not only defeat the Cavaliers, but stay in a game with them—and at Quicken Loans Arena where they lost two games all regular season.

One thing is certain, if Cleveland wants to stave off elimination, they need other players to step up. As great as LeBron James has been, he can not be everywhere on the court and the fact that the Cavaliers rolled the dice with a subpar supporting cast in the postseason is coming back to haunt them.

Still this team has the ability to come back from 3 games to 1 down. The sports cliché machine warrants each Cavalier stating that they will take it “one game at a time,” but the reality is that they can hold their home court and head back to Orlando where they did not look too bad in either game, they can force a Game 7 back in Cleveland.

But, one can imagine many teams in the past telling themselves these words of encouragement. No matter how you cut it, the Cavs have a steep hill to climb.

Unlike the NHL, where it seems a team rallies back from a 3-1 deficit every postseason, the NBA has had far less occasions of this. In 62 years, only eight teams have rallied back from the deficit in 190 occasions.

Good news and bad news for Cleveland. While they Magic have beaten the Cavaliers 10 of the past 14 overall meetings and were one of only three teams to win in Cleveland this year, Orlando was one of those unlucky eight teams—and the most recent—to lose a 3-1 deficit when they allowed the 2003 Detroit Pistons rally back to win the first round, which was the first year that the first-round was a best of seven series.

It’s all good news for Orlando these days as they have three shots to win one game and they found out Wednesday that one of Dwight Howard’s technical fouls was rescinded, taking his postseason total from six to five. The NBA mandates an automatic one-game suspension when a seventh tech is received.

James has showed why he was voted the MVP of the season as he has easily been the MVP of the postseason. He is averaging 42.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists in the series, which is quite impressive considering the Magic have had to double and triple their efforts to stop him.

But the other side of that is awfully sad that the Cleveland supporting cast has not been able to pick up the slack.

The other Cleveland All-Star guaranteed a series victory prior to Game 4 and is in danger of just blowing hot air. Mo Williams has looked nothing like an All-Star, missing 10 of 15 shots in Game 4.

Unless Williams, Delonte West, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and the rest of the Cavs getting going, the NBA Finals will be heading through Orlando for the first time since 1995 sooner than later.

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