Ebener12

Round 1 Eastern Conference:

#1 Orlando Magic

vs.

#8 Detroit Pistons



Season Stats:

PPG:
Magic 104.6
Pistons 93.5

OPPG:
Magic 92.8
Pistons 96.7

APG:
Magic 24.0
Pistons 22.0

TPG:
Magic 16.6
Pistons 16.4

SPG:
Magic 9.8
Pistons 8.1

RPG:
Magic 53.5
Pistons 49.0

BPG:
Magic 6.1
Pistons 6.0

FG%:
Magic 45.7%
Pistons 42.8%


Season Series:

Day 75: Magic @ Pistons
Magic 108 Pistons 89

Day 110: Pistons @ Magic
Magic 110 Pistons 81

Day 115: Magic @ Pistons
Magic 129 Pistons 107


Player Matchups: Center


Magic: Dwight Howard 6'11 240 15.0 PPG/11.7 RPG/1.2 BPG/2.5 TPG/45% FG

Pistons: Taylor Coppenrath 6'9 250 12.6 PPG/6.0 RPG/0.8 BPG/1.6 TPG/45% FG

Breakdown/Advantage: This is a big mismatch at center with All-Star Dwight Howard up against undersized Coppenrath. Look for Howard to possibly have a few 20+ rebound games in this series.

Player Matchups: Power Forward


Magic: Chris Bosh 6'10 210 17.2 PPG/9.3 RPG/1.6 BPG/2.3 TPG/41% FG

Pistons: David West 6'9 240 12.2 PPG/6.9 RPG/0.8 BPG/1.2 TPG/49% FG

Breakdown/Advantage: This is the best matchup of the series with 2 of the best young PF's in the league going up against each other. Bosh has a clear advantage but don't look for West to cave in and let Bosh dominate. This could be a key battle down low.

Player Matchups: Small Forward


Magic: Caron Butler 6'7 217 13.8 PPG/5.4 RPG/1.2 SPG/1.4 TPG/48% FG

Pistons: Ryan Games 6'7 230 8.6 PPG/6.3 RPG/1.0 SPG/2.0 TPG/40% FG

Breakdown/Advantage: This is a matchup that should be controlled by the shooting ability of Caron Butler. Neither one of them are shut down defenders but Butler's shooting ability makes this another mismatch. Gomes is young and is developing but this is a matchup that he needs to step up too.

Player Matchups: Shooting Guard


Magic: Dwyane Wade 6'4 212 24.4 PPG/6.5 RPG/5.0 APG/1.9 SPG/3.2 TPG/50% FG


Pistons: Vince Carter 6'6 225 18.1 PPG/6.0 RPG/4.3 APG/0.9 SPG/3.5 TPG/43% FG

Breakdown/Advantage: This is another interesting matchup but once again the advantage goes to the Magic's Wade. Wade is the best all around SG in the league, being on the 2nd All-HT Team and 2nd All-HT Defensive Team. Carter had a strong season this year leading the Pistons in scoring but the youth and talent of Wade is overwhelming for most of the SG's in the league.

Player Matchups: Point Guard

Magic: Allen Iverson 6'0 165 15.7 PPG/5.4 RPG/8.7 APG/1.9 SPG/3.3 TPG/47% FG

Pistons: Delonte West 6'4 180 8.6 PPG/3.7 RPG/5.6 APG/0.7 SPG/1.9 TPG/43% FG

Breakdown/Advantage: This is a matchup of youth vs. experience. Iverson at 31 years old is one of the best point guards in the league by far. In Detroit, they have a very nice prospect in Delonte West, who is developing but appears to be greatly overmatched by Iverson.

Player Matchups: Bench

Magic: The Magic have the BEST bench in the league, no doubt. If you look at the player coming of the bench in Orlando its shocking. They have Andre Iguodala, Nazr Mohammad, Al Jefferson, and Devin Harris coming off the bench. All 4 of those guys are starter material and beyond. Iguodala and Harris are future stars on this team as well.

Pistons: Detroit also has some great bench player this year. They have McDyess, Maxiell, Reddick, and Udrih playing well as non-starters this year. This could keep them in some of the games in the series.


Prediction:

Magic in 4

Breakdown: The Detroit Pistons have some great youth talent, but as you can see they are overmatched in almost every aspect of the game. The Orlando Magic have a dominating roster that has been playing up to their potential this year. Even with all of this, so were the 76ers last year and they took us to 7 games so you never know what could happen. The Magic need to sweep this series to keep their momentum going and get some rest.

SteelerDan43

It looks pretty clear that the Magic should win.... SHOULD. You never know though. We took them to the breaking point last year and with the random injury bug who knows what could happen. But I'm not calling for an upset

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Ebener12

Yep 76ers thats what I mentioned in the end, anything can happen, AKA last year against you.

SteelerDan43

I still don't quite know how that happened, I thought for sure we were gonna get throttled.

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DTP

Great article man, claim $200 points for this. And yeah it's clear that Orlando SHOULD win but that's why we play the games.

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HT San Antonio Spurs (0-0)

9 Parker
12 Wilkins
13 Palacios
21 Duncan
3 Wallace

Year 1- 47-35 Loss in WCF 1-4 to Phx
Year 2- 40-42 Loss in 1st Round 1-4 to Phx

Aim-YoungDtop

Ebener12

76ers you have no idea how scared I was for that game 7. I honestly thought we were going to lose. But I remember DTP saying something like OMG OMG before the Game 7 and thats when I knew he was fucking with me and I won....I can read that reverse psychology like nothin ;)