ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -Team Sweep has more time to do some housecleaning.
Waiting around for their next opponent again, about the only questions the playoff-perfect Orlando Magic face are when and where they’ll begin the Eastern Conference finals. Fourteen straight wins – including 8-0 in the postseason – have left the Magic beaming with confidence ahead of another lengthy layoff.
But the time off provides no assurance of continued success.
“The one thing you have to understand about playoff basketball is you’ve got to get beyond the last game and the last series,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “It has no meaning for the game or the series coming up, whatsoever. So you go in with good confidence, you get a little rest, but it will come down to how you play in the next series.”
s before toppling the unbeaten Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference finals. Now Cleveland is in a fight with Boston, going into Tuesday’s contest tied at two games apiece in the best-of-seven series and Orlando is the team with time to wait and watch.
The earliest Orlando will play again is Sunday, and it could be as long as next Tuesday – eight days between games. The Magic would have home-court advantage against Boston but would start on the road against Cleveland.
Van Gundy gave his team two days off – again – after dusting aside Atlanta in the most lopsided four-game sweep in NBA playoff history. The Magic will return to practice Thursday and try to avoid the kind of overconfidence and complacency that led to Cleveland’s downfall last season.
That might be the only thing Van Gundy doesn’t seem concerned about.
“I’ve said the one thing that I have real confidence in with our team is our mind set, our preparation and what we bring to the game in terms of energy and intensity will be very good,” he said. “If we get beat and when we get beat, it will be just because somebody out plays us. It’s not going to be because our guys aren’t ready to play. I really have confidence in that.”
The motivated Magic have played lately like a team on a mission.
down defensively.
Still sometimes viewed as the irritating interloper that derailed a LeBron James-Kobe Bryant showdown in last year’s NBA Finals, Orlando enters the conference finals as the favorite to squash such talk again. The Magic haven’t lost since April 2 at San Antonio.
“I just think if we do the things we’ve done to get us to this point,” Howard said, “we should beat anybody.”
They’re also in better position to do so this year.
Point guard Jameer Nelson, sidelined the first three rounds last season with a left shoulder tear, is healthy again and playing like he was when he earned a spot on the All-Star team in 2009. The addition of Matt Barnes has given the Magic a gritty defender, and newcomer Jason Williams has anchored one of the deepest benches in the league as the backup point guard.
For all the questions about how Vince Carter would replace Hedo Turkoglu in the lineup, that has been almost a non-issue through two rounds. Carter is in the conference finals for the first time in his career, averaging 16.9 points per game in the playoffs.
Although perfection isn’t likely to last in the playoffs, striving for it is helping the Magic stay focused.
“I’d like to go 16-0,” Carter said. “When you’re playing this well, you don’t want to lose. You want teams to always have fear in their minds and think to themselves, ‘We can’t beat these guys.’ You never want to have a nick in your armor.
“Why not stay flawless if you can?”
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