After carefully writing a couple of articles about the state of the playoffs and what we are to expect looking ahead, the Celtics lost game four at home to the Magic. Thus I had to start again. Fortunately, we now have some playoff basketball, even if it is a couple of rounds too late.

The most interesting series available just got ever so slightly more watchable. After being so badly outplayed by the Lakers that Coach Alvin Gentry openly asked reporters in the post-game press conference for some answers to help him stop the Lakers, Phoenix threw everything at LA on Sunday night and managed to grab a win at home. While the scope of this win can’t be understated, it seems like it’s a case of the Suns sticking a finger in the dyke and hoping for the best. Sure they had a monster of a game from Amare Stoudemire, as well as some great numbers from Robin Lopez and the irrepressible Steve Nash, but it was as much a case of LA being slightly off their game as it was of Phoenix raising theirs.

It helped to be in front of an inhospitable home crowd, but it took the Lakers to throw away the fourth quarter with 6 turnovers in the first few minutes to kick start the Suns after the third quarter ended all square. It also shouldn’t be overlooked that Kobe had the hot start and didn’t get his usual rest going into the fourth quarter since they were chasing the game. Consequently a lot of his jumpers in the final period were short. And don’t forget how badly LA shot the three – 9 of 32 from outside, including a tonne of missed corner threes (highest percentage shot in the game), many of them open ones.

On the one hand you can look at this and say Phoenix didn’t let the Lakers get going, and their zone defence stopped the ball movement, and the Lakers’ shooting regressed to the norm and whatever. But again, up against the best player and the best coach in the league, a coach who throughout his career has demonstrated an ability to make game-by-game adjustments, the Suns will have to play better than they did in game 3 to square the series. On the other hand, this is totally plausible, as all the Suns needed was to get underway and get back to playing the way they have been in the past 2 months. Game 4 is tonight and no doubt we’ll discover which team had the aberration Sunday night.

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Interesting how things change so quickly in playoff basketball. First nobody predicts the Celtics to beat the Cav’s, then a week later they are a mortal lock to sweep the Magic, and then last night they let Orlando back into a series that is far from over.

We can play the one hand/other hand game all day with this one. On the one hand, the Celtics probably let complacency creep in after wiping the court with the Magic in game 3, on the other hand the Magic are the second best team in the league this season for a reason and they were never going to roll over. On one hand, the Celtics have looked decidedly better than the Magic all series, but on the other, they won games one and two by only 7 points total. On one hand, the Celtics have been a better road team all season, but on the other hand, the Magic are going back to Orlando with confidence and their best players hitting some form. On one hand, Boston’s defence is good enough to slow down any team, but on the other hand, Orlando are also an elite defensive unit and managed to get stops at critical junctures in game 4.

That was tedious. I won’t inflict that on you again in some time, but you get the picture. Even though the series is 3-1 (93 out of 93 teams that have gone up 3-0 in a 7 game series have won that series), the series shifts back to Orlando where they must be favourites. If they win that game, we go back to Boston and all of a sudden the Celtics are under pressure to close out the series.

It’s the little shifts in momentum that have defined these playoffs at large. Teams with no momentum have been tossed aside, while those that manage to gain a small advantage tend to roll. The momentum is definitely now with the Magic, or at the very least, it’s no longer with the Celtics. This was the first time in the playoffs that the Celtics have held their opponent to under 100 points and still lost. The Magic will know this and take confidence from the fact that they can win a close, low-scoring grind. If their offence gets going, then they become that much harder to stop. I’d expect to see the Florida franchise come out firing in game 5. While I’m reluctant to bet against a champion, it seems like a bit of wind has been taken out of their sails.

With these two teams you can tell a lot by their on-court demeanour. If the Magic turn up to game 5 with the same business-like expressions they brought to game 4, then we might be heading back to Boston. If they joke around like they have done all season with lollie pop smiles and gum drop laughter, expect the Celtics and their graveyard expressions to close Orlando out.

That said, I’m sticking to my predictions: Boston in 6, LA in 6.