Cleveland Cavaliers-Orlando Magic: Fit To Be Tied

Tonight, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic are going to be playing Game Three of their best-of-seven series to see who goes to the NBA Finals. And the word around Northeast Ohio is that the Cavs are in trouble, that the Cavs are lucky to not be down 0-2. I must respectfully disagree. Sort of.

When I say I disagree, I don't mean that this series is going to be an easy one for the Cavs. It's not. I don't mean that they won't lose this series. They might. I don't mean that they won't have to come up with a better strategy and better performances. They will.

If it can be said that the Cavaliers are lucky to not be down 0-2, well, the same can be said for the Magic.

Two games have been played so far. The series is tied 1-1. When you total the points for both games, the score is tied, 202-202. Both teams won on an amazing three-pointer. Twice, the Cavs have jumped out to big leads, and twice the Magic fought back. The Cavs are one incredible shot away from being down 0-2; the Magic are one incredible shot from being down 0-2.

This series is obviously a tough match-up for both teams, not just for the Cavaliers.  Yes, the Cavs finished the season with the best record in the NBA and yes they were the favorites to win the series when it began. But this is the Conference Finals and to expect one team to blow out another is ridiculous.

Just look at the Western Conference Finals: The Lakers were the odds-on favorites to easily win that conference, but now their series against Denver looks incredibly close, even with the Lakers up 2-1.

As the playoffs in both conferences have rolled on, it's become apparent that a Lakers-Cavs championship isn't going to be as automatic as everyone thought it would be. After each of the previous two rounds, as teams were eliminated, the toughest teams stood ready to do battle until you have what we have now: four teams that could all end up NBA champions.

The Cavs DO have their work cut out for them, but so do the Magic. The Magic have big men who can hit the three which creates match-up problems for the Cavaliers, whose big men do not have the quickness to cover the perimeter. The Cavaliers have a defense that can make a team one-dimensional, and the Magic's outside shooting could go cold, as we've seen it do this postseason, which will leave them with no advantage. Oh, and the Cavs have LeBron James.

The Cavs are going to have to find a way to cover the perimeter without giving up the inside game to Dwight Howard. If they go with speed, then that means putting smaller guys on the court who will have a height disadvantage.

They could go perimeter defense and use guys like Ben Wallace and Darnell Jackson to hack Howard, who is a bad free-throw shooter. Of course, that strategy will quickly put Cleveland over-the-limit and allow Orlando to go to the free-throw line over and over.

The Magic have to find a way to stop the Cavs from jumping out to big leads. To expect your team to make comeback after comeback is incredibly risky. Four of the Cavs starting five are good shooters when they are on their game.

Trying to cover LeBron James one-on-one is futile, and so that leaves three guys to cover Mo Williams, Delonte West, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, with Anderson Varejao free to run around and set picks.

The true answer is that there probably is no true answer. These are two excellent teams who, by their different advantages, create an even match-up. You will probably see game-to-game adjustments being made.

There is one thing for sure: This is one hell of a series match-up and should be exciting to the end. The Chicago-Boston first-round series which, in my opinion, got more credit than it should have in terms of all-time, will probably be overshadowed by this one. Unlike that series, here, you have two championship-caliber teams fighting it out for a chance to be an NBA champion.

Who will that be? We are just going to wait to find out. Might be either, might be neither. Right now, the open odds for either of these two teams to win the NBA Finals is 15-1.

Just one more place where the Cavaliers and the Magic are tied.