DETROIT \u2014 \u201cAct like we\u2019ve been there before.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the message Magic<\/a> coach Jamahl Mosley<\/a> shared with his group after eighth-seeded Orlando<\/a> walked off the court inside Little Caesars Arena<\/a> after shocking the top-seeded Pistons<\/a> 112-101 on Sunday night to take a 1-0 series lead to open the first round of the NBA playoffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Except they hadn\u2019t been there before.<\/p>\n Before Sunday, the Magic under Mosley had yet to win on the road in the postseason, previously falling eight times in three years, and as recently as Wednesday at Philadelphia in a play-in game that would\u2019ve sent them to No. 2 Boston had they beaten the 76ers instead.<\/p>\n And yet, it was Orlando who looked like the cool, calm and collected team Sunday. Not the Pistons, who had a week off since ending the regular season with 60 wins \u2014 the most the franchise won in 20 years \u2014 and only lost nine contests at home this year.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can be happy that you got the win. That\u2019s fine,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s part of this game. This is a seven-game series for a reason. But you don\u2019t want to act surprised like it\u2019s not something you\u2019re capable of doing.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything that we\u2019re doing in this moment from here on out is about the mindset,\u201d he added. \u201cIf you act surprised then when you get hit in the face, you\u2019re not going to know how to respond back. And our guys need to keep remembering that this is what we\u2019re capable of doing.\u201d<\/p>\n The reason Sunday felt like a surprise for those outside looking in is that Orlando fell to a Boston squad that only had eight players available in the regular-season finale just one week earlier. The Magic then lost on the road Wednesday in the play-in to a Sixers team that dropped Game 1 of its first-round series to the Celtics on Sunday by 32 points at TD Garden.<\/p>\n In fact, the Magic were the only road team to win Game 1 of the first round across the entire playoffs.<\/p>\n Home teams went 7-1 in Game 1 of the first round and won by an average of 17.7 points. The West\u2019s No. 1 seed, defending champion Thunder, took down the No. 8 seed Suns by 35 points also on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a completely different feeling,\u201d Magic guard Jalen Suggs<\/a> said about Orlando\u2019s first road playoff win since 2019. \u201cWinning at home, you\u2019ve got a lot of juice. The crowd is lit on your runs. It feels \u2026 I wouldn\u2019t say a bit easier but you just have that auto-momentum built in. Here, it\u2019s got to come from the 15 (players) and the coaching staff. I think (Sunday) we did an amazing job from the get go, coming out throwing the first punch and then sustaining that energy, not letting it drop off. In the moments when they went on runs, we were really intentional in our timeouts about coming out, (ending) the momentum and getting back on our flow.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I think it says a lot about everybody, about our growth and how far we\u2019ve come,\u201d he added. \u201cThis feels better than all the other ones, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n A prime example of Orlando\u2019s growth was its ability to not get rattled by Detroit\u2019s push in the third quarter Sunday. Trailing the Magic 63-52 three minutes into the second half, the Pistons used a 13-2 run to tie the game at 65.<\/p>\n Instead of folding, as the Magic had done at various points throughout the regular season when faced with on-court adversity, Orlando responded with a 14-3 run to recapture a double-digit lead with three minutes left in the third frame.<\/p>\n For the night, the Magic recorded more assists (26-19), grabbed more rebounds (45-39) and scored more points in the paint (54-34) on a night that they never trailed at Detroit.<\/p>\n