Lacking playoff experience, Magic confident facing elimination vs. Cavs
CLEVELAND — If the extra pressure brought on by the NBA playoffs wasn’t felt by the Magic before, it certainly will be on Friday.
Orlando, whose roster features just four players with postseason experience, finds itself on the brink of elimination after dropping Tuesday’s Game 5 to the Cavs at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
With the best-of-seven series between the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds in the East serving as the first taste of the playoffs for the majority of the Magic, it’d be easy to expect a more-experienced Cleveland squad to find a way to secure a victory in one of two chances to advance with a 3-2 lead over the youthful Magic.
Don’t tell Joe Ingles that.
“I got to the point probably halfway through the year — but even more now — I hate this ‘young’ slogan,” the veteran Magic forward told reporters in the Orlando locker room after the 104-103 road loss. “It doesn’t matter how young you are.
“It’s the connectivity and guys improving and continuing to get better,” he added. “Yeah, there’ll be some situations guys haven’t been in but everyone in this room has played in a big game at some point or a knock-out game or some level of pretty high-level basketball.”
Ingles pointed to Orlando’s franchise-record-tying 9-game winning streak in late November as well as multiple losing streaks throughout the season as examples to why the Magic aren’t going to suddenly quit despite trailing the Cavs in the first-round series.
“We kept going,” he said. “The goal all year was to keep getting better throughout the year and get to this position and be playing our best basketball. We’ve shown that in different parts of the series.
“We’ll go home and it’ll be fun,” Ingles added.
When the Magic host the Cavs on Friday at Kia Center, they’ll try to force the franchise’s first Game 7 since the 2009 playoffs.
During Orlando’s run to the NBA Finals that year, the Magic trailed the Celtics 3-2 in the conference semifinals and won Game 6 at home before finishing out the series on the road.
The Magic will have to repeat history if they want to advance past the Cavs in this series. A potential Game 7 will be played at Cleveland on Sunday.
Smallest details matter most in Magic’s effort to force Game 7 vs. Cavs
But the odds are against Orlando.
In 343 tries, only 55 teams (16%) have come back to win a playoff series when facing a 3-2 deficit.
“I’m riding with this team no matter who it is in front of us,” Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. said when asked in the locker room why he feels confident Orlando can win two straight over Cleveland. “I believe that we can beat any team in this league. I’m riding with my guys. I feel like we can win two in a row.
“It won’t be easy but we can do it.”
Although the Magic might lack postseason experience compared to the Cavs — who exited last year’s first round in five games to New York with almost the same core — Orlando sure is confident.
To Jamahl Mosley’s squad, age is just a number.
“To me, the ‘young’ thing is just a cop-out,” Ingles said. “It’s just an easy excuse to make. I’m not going to use it and I would hope no one else does.”
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com
If you go …
Magic vs. Cavs, Game 6
When: Friday at Kia Center, TBD
How to watch: Bally Sports Florida
