The 8-seed does not get a choice in who they play.
The Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets did not have a choice on Friday. The Detroit Pistons awaited them.
But ask Magic fans, and this was the ideal plan all along. Dealing with the Detroit Pistons, as good as they can be, seemed a lot more ideal for a slow-it-down, interior-focused team like the Orlando Magic than having to deal with the constant threat of the Boston Celtics' shooting and perimeter-focused play.
This is the team most like them. And one message rang out after their win Friday: The Magic are ready for war.
"It's going to be a war," Jalen Suggs said in the locker room after Friday's Play-In win. "I hope everybody is ready for that. They are a good team. They've been hot all year. Now it comes down to winning four games. Who can do it first? Regardless of all that happened in the 82. The playoffs are a new season. This is a good way to go into that matchup. Everybody is excited. Those games will be fun for sure."
There is no good matchup for an 8-seed. But the Pistons might be the best chance the Magic have at making a series from that spot.
Detroit is tough and has earned the 1-seed. Making this a series might be considered a minor victory and defy a lot of expectations. But Detroit has a lot to prove too. And there are a lot of things the Magic can take advantage of.
Orlando might have ended up with their ideal matchup.
Focused on the paint
This will not be a pretty series. For anyone looking for beautiful, spread-it-out, modern basketball, the Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons are preparing for a physical rough-and-tumble series. This is going to be a battle at every turn.
Neither the Magic nor the Pistons are a great 3-point shooting team. The Magic finished 27th in the league, shooting 34.3 percent from three -- and 22nd with 34.1 attempts per game. Even in Friday's 31-point win, the Magic made only 8 of 27 from three (29.6 percent).
The Pistons are not going to rely on 3-point shooting either. They are 17th in percentage at 35.6 percent but took the second-fewest threes in the league at 30.9 attempts per game. Detroit might make more threes and have the outside shooting advantage, but this is not a team hunting for threes.
The series will instead focus on the paint. Both teams will try to establish a physical dominance over the other and frustrate them or fluster them with physical punishment.
"There is a physicality to this game that's going to be real," coach Jamahl Mosley said after Friday's win. "That's the way coach [J.B.] Bickerstaff coaches. That's the way that we coach here. There is going to be a lot of aggression, a lot of physicality. It's going to be, for lack of a better term, a dog fight. That's why they stamped their name as the No. 1 team in the East because of how they defend."
There will be a lot of physicality. The teams have gotten into scraps before -- expect Isaiah Stewart to try to start something as he tried to with Jonathan Isaac after their November NBA Cup matchup. It is a test of physical and mental will in this series.
Detroit averages a league-high 57.9 points in the paint per game. Orlando gives up 50.9 points in the paint per game (16th in the league). The Magic score 51.1 points in the paint per game (12th in the league) and the Pistons give up 43.7 points in the paint per game, fourth in the league.
Both teams will foul a lot too. The Magic were second in the league with a 31.1 percent free throw rate and the Pistons were fifth at 29.2 percent. Orlando gives up a 28.5 percent free throw rate and Detroit fouls the most in the league at 31.9 percent.
Both teams will do plenty to collapse the paint and make it hard to score inside. It is the big focus for this entire series. Neither team is going to back down from a scrum.
"I think just match Detroit's physicality. I think that's their calling card," Paolo Banchero said after Friday's win. "They are probably one of the most physical teams in the NBA. Offensively, it runs through Cade [Cunningham] and [Jalen] Duren pick and roll and they have good role guys around those two. We have to come in locked in on the personnel and just be ready for a 48-minute fight. It's going to be a dog fight. I expect nothing less."
These teams are really similar in their offensive philosophies. The Pistons are obviously better by the numbers. But the playoffs are about matchups.
Magic's size frustrates Detroit
As far as matchups go, the Orlando Magic have been an oddly difficult one for the Detroit Pistons to handle.
The Magic stole the NBA Cup group play game in their second matchup behind a 37-point effort from Desmond Bane. That included the game-winning layup late in the game that secured the Magic's passage to the knockout round and the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
That was a game that had stakes on the road. It should give the Magic some confidence.
The Pistons do have some big wings. There may not be another team more equipped to handle Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner together quite like them. Ausar Thompson will get the call on one of the two, leaving Tobias Harris to guard the other.
But the Magic's stars have had success.
Wagner scored 43 points in two games against the Pistons (both from early in the season in Detroit). He averages 21.9 points per game in 16 career games against the Pistons.
Banchero feasts on Detroit. He had 24 points in both games he played against the Pistons, with them at full strength. He added 11 rebounds and seven assists in the October matchup, dominating the first half before going quiet in the second half.
He scored 31 in the April matchup with the Pistons sitting many of their starters.
Banchero averages 22.2 points per game in 12 career games against the Pistons. That includes the game-winner from two years ago and his debut game.
Obviously Detroit has evolved across their two careers. They have become a juggernaut. Every point will be a challenge.
But the Magic's size and their ability to get both of their players downhill is a big factor.
As is the size they can throw at Cade Cunningham.
Cunningham averages 20.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in 13 matchups with the Magic. He shot just 41.5 percent from the floor. This season, Cunningham averaged 32.7 points and 10.7 assists per game in three games, shooting 48.0 percent. It is clearly a different level to Cunningham.
"They are a team, they are physical," Wendell Carter said in the locker room after Friday's game. "They have been playing well all throughout the year. This is what we live for. We live to play in series no matter who it's against. Now it's our time to live that moment and let the chips fall where they may."
There will be a lot of push and pull in this series. The Magic are the one chasing and will need to play extremely well and cover their flaws to win.
But the challenges Detroit presents are challenges Orlando is comfortable facing. They are things the team does anyway.
And that could be a pathway to make this a far more competitive series.
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