The last two years the Magic returned from the road in the first round of the NBA playoffs, the team trailed 2-0 twice.
In both instances, Orlando found a way to win Game 3 against the Cavaliers in 2024 and the Celtics last year to remain competitive and avoid backbreaking 3-0 holes.
This time, however, a Game 3 win Saturday inside Kia Center against the top-seeded Pistons would actually give Jamahl Mosley‘s squad a crucial 2-1 series lead after the Magic split the road games at Detroit to open the best-of-seven series.
Teams that lead a best-of-seven series 2-1 win the series 78.9% of the time, according to the NBA.
“It’s the first time for this group and I think we’re in a good spot,” Franz Wagner said after practice Friday inside the AdventHealth Training Center. “We kind of feel like we let Game 2 slip away a little bit in that third and didn’t play our best basketball at all. But those games are over now.
“So we’re just focusing on (Saturday), trying to play the best 48 (minutes) that we can,” he added.
The reason the eighth-seeded Magic believe they let Game 2 “slip away a little bit,” was largely due to Detroit’s physicality. Coming out of halftime, the Pistons turned defense into offense, outscored Orlando 38-16 in the third quarter and never relinquished control.
Beyond that third quarter, however, the Magic have outscored the Pistons in five of the eight quarters played in the series.
“I don’t think it was schematic,” Wagner said about Detroit’s adjustment in Game 2. “It was just more great energy, more effort than we brought to the game and being really physical on defense. That got us out of our rhythm a little bit.”
Orlando spent Friday’s practice focusing on ways to respond to Detroit’s defensive pressure after the Pistons scored 18 points off 19 takeaways in Game 2.
“In a lot of ways, you’ve got to use the pressure against them,” Mosley said. “Sometimes when you get sped up, you start to … panic a little bit more, but (it’s) our ability to stay calm, use that pressure against them versus just trying to speed up and be out of control.”
Of course, there’s a delicate balance between making quick decisions and playing chaotically.
“You want to play with pace,” Mosley said. “You want to combat some of that aggression (by) playing with pace in the half-court, as well as full-court, but it’s also being able to understand where your reads are. So, that’s why we talk about the spacing on the floor being so important.”
Although the Magic find themselves tied 1-1 with Detroit rather down 2-0 as in the past two playoffs, the players said their mindset doesn’t change.
“Protect homecourt like we’ve done in the past,” Wendell Carter Jr. said about Orlando’s goal. “We protect homecourt, it’ll give us a good chance to win the series. Winning our first road playoff game in the first game of the series was big, but we understand that now it’s just about protecting homecourt.”
The Magic hope to get guard Desmond Bane (3) untracked. While he’s hustling and playing with energy, his shooting has been off and he’s only hitting 29% of his field goals through the first two games of the playoff against the Pistons. (Duane Burleson/AP Photo)
Magic diaper drive
Magic guard Jevon Carter and his wife, Taylor, along with his “Treadmill Mentality Foundation,” will host a diaper drive before Games 3 and 4, the team said. The Magic are encouraging fans to bring unopened packages of diapers to Kia Center prior to the games.
The Carters will match each donated diaper – up to 20,000 diapers. All donations will benefit the Central Florida Diaper Bank.
Bins will be labeled and located in the Threatlocker Garage and at Fan Fest on Church Street, which opens two hours prior to tipoff, the team said.
“Since arriving in Orlando, Taylor and I have felt the love from the team, community and all of these incredible fans,” said Carter, who signed with the team in early February. “This is a small way to show our thanks to the Orlando community.”
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
Up next …
Magic vs. Pistons, Game 3
When: 1 p.m., Saturday, Kia Center
TV: Peacock/NBC Sports Network