The Orlando Magic came up with one of the most surprising results in the NBA Playoffs while visiting the Toronto Raptors, the team with the second best record in the regular season, and defeating them to take advantage of the first-round. Making a dent to see who is still dreaming of raising the Larry O’Brien trophy.
In this phase the games of a night that did not have major transcendence are left behind if you won or not (in the majority of the cases), and any equipment has possibilities of obtaining surprising results, as it already did Orlando or as the Clippers of Los Angeles last night, when they overcame a deficit of 31 points to get the comeback of more units in a postseason at the home of two-time Golden State Warriors. Literally, anything can happen in the Playoffs.
In this case, the Magic arrives with a better run to Tuesday’s game than Toronto, with eight wins in its most recent 10 games, by seven out of 10 of the Raptors. And this became clear when they were measured for the first time at the Air Canada Center and the visit won 101-104 with a triple over D.J. Augustin, the leading scorer of his team, which left the squad and the Canadian fans frozen.
Two interesting factors can be obtained from this clash between the Florida and Canada squads. The first, that the Magic is one of six teams that has been able to defeat Toronto more than once this season and also has a 3-2 record in their direct matches throughout the 2018-2019 season. The second, that the key to Orlando’s victory was the ineffectiveness of Kyle Lowry, who averaged 14.2 points per game throughout the season and in the first game of the postseason went 0 of 7 for zero points.
These factors, the moment of the Magic and the inexplicable disappearance of Lowry, base and star of the Raptors, were decisive for Orlando to obtain one of the most surprising results of the Playoffs so far. That victory means that those from the southern United States will play at least two games at home, which could be decisive for the outcome of the series.