It was appropriate how the Orlando Magic decided to celebrate Wendell Carter's birthday earlier this week.
In a video posted to the Magic's social media pages earlier this week, the team was sitting in their video room at the AdventHealth Training Center when Tristan da Silva was invited up for his typical rookie duties to serenade the veterans on their birthday.
A bright blue trumpet in one hand and sheet music in the other, he was not up there to play Happy Birthday. When given the cue, he started, and a video played on the TV in front of them all.
As da Silva began playing "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky, a video of the running montage from the original movie with Wendell Carter's face superimposed on Sylvester Stallone's face played to the players' delight.
Call it inspiration from the ultimate underdog story.
Because the world outside of the Magic's bubble probably would give Rocky Balboa a better chance at defeating Apollo Creed than the Magic have of beating the Celtics in this playoff series.
All Orlando can do is embrace that reality and their role as the underdog and stay confident in what they can do. That is their only chance.
To say the least, entering Game 1, they believe.
"Once we shock the world, everyone is going to become a fan of the Orlando Magic," Wendell Carter said after practice Saturday. "We've been underdogs before. When our guys went down throughout the year, they told us we should start looking to the Lottery. We've seen it all before. It just gives us fuel, in my opinion."
There has been a lot of chest-puffing and confidence entering the Playoffs, as you would expect. Everybody believes at this point of the season. Some dreams are bigger than others.
And this is a confident Magic group right now.
Celtics fans bristled at Magic fans chanting "We want Boston" after their Play-In Tournament victory on Tuesday. As if fans or the team themselves are not going to believe in their chances and what they can do.
The Magic are trying to enter this series confident in themselves and what they can do.
Long shot from the sharps
There is still no denying the odds heading into this series. The Orlando Magic are the longest shot to win their series according to most sportsbooks.
FanDuel Sportsbook has the Magic at +2200 (22/1 odds) to win the series, the longest shot of any team in the first round. They set the over/under for the series at 4.5 games and are offering -132 odds for the Boston Celtics to lead the series 3-0 after three games.
The Boston Celtics are 13.5-point favorites in Game 1 (one point more than the spread for Game 1 between the 10-seed Miami Heat and top-seed Cleveland Cavaliers).
This is as much about respect for the defending champion Celtics as much as it is about the Magic. But it leaves the Magic in a major hole.
Still, the Magic are entering this series embracing the challenge and eager to show what they can do.
"We expected that going up against the defending champs," Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said after practice Saturday. "For us, it's just about us. We believe in us and we're going to continue to believe in us. We think we can come in and get a game."
Confidence is high
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said the Orlando Magic's confidence is high entering Sunday's opening game. He said the team is overly prepared.
With most of the team having a year of postseason experience under their belt, playoff preparation has been more streamlined and focused. Wendell Carter said the team did less physically and were focused more on the mental aspects of their preparation. Everybody knows the drill and what it takes to be successful in the playoffs.
The team put a lot of focus on itself too, fine-tuning defensive principles and offensive principles separately with their two days of practice at home before putting the pieces together in Saturday's practice in Boston.
This is a confident bunch. Most of all for the way the team has played to close the season.
The Magic saw a bit of an offensive revival in the final months of the season -- scoring a more respectable 114.1 points per 100 possessions in the final 15 games of the regular season (19th in the league!). They led the league with a 108.1 defensive rating during the last 15 games of the regular season.
At the very least, the Magic are playing their best basketball entering the postseason. And that makes some of the dismissal of the Magic's chances puzzling.
Orlando could have competed for a higher seed if the team had been healthy. This is as healthy as the team has been—only Jalen Suggs and Moe Wagner are on the injury report with season-ending injuries.
This is a confident group as the playoffs begin. And they do not care who is in front of them.
"It's all good vibes in here," Wendell Carter said after practice Saturday. "Everybody is excited. We've experienced the first round of the playoffs before. We understand what it takes. We've had our backs against the wall before. It's a game we play with no tension or pressure. We go out there and do what we do and play Orlando Magic basketball."
Orlando knows it is facing a tall task in this series, and the margin for error is tighter. Most NBA experts might be projecting a fairly quick series, but they acknowledge the Magic's defense will present some challenges.
This will be a fight. And despite all the outside noise expecting a quick series, the Celtics are a serious team with a championship pedigree. They know they cannot overlook a team like the Magic. They are preparing for a battle.
But the pressure is indeed seemingly off the Magic. They are the ones playing with house money, so to speak. They are the ones nobody expects to compete and have a chance in this series. They are the ones who believe when nobody else does.
Orlando is embracing that by believing in themselves that they can do this. It is why they play the games.