LOST

I am no longer surprised by anything I see out of this team.  The only consistent thing about this postseason has been inconsitency. 

These playoffs are reminding me of a season of LOST.  Every time I feel like I know something about this team, I'm proven wrong.  Every time I feel like I know where the story is headed, it takes a right angle turn and goes in directions I never thought possible.  Reality is so bent out of shape at this point that I'm not sure the rules of physics apply anymore.

The Orlando Magic are supposed to be a team that panics down the stretch.  They played that role perfectly in games 1 and 5, but let it be noted that they still managed to hold on (if just barely) in game 1.  Somehow, last night the roles were reversed and the Celtics were the ones that couldn't hold onto a 10 point lead and faltered down the stretch. The Magic were the ones that showed poise. 

I have to admit, when we were up 10 I was already starting to formulate what I would write about the Magic in an end of series post.  I was thinking of something along the lines of "This is the part where I'm supposed to tip my hat and credit the other team for giving it a good effort, but I don't know if I can do that."  Well, now I can.  The Magic answered their critics and showed more poise than I gave them credit for.  Good on them.

It isn't just the overall story that has me scratching my head either.  The individual stories are driving me bonkers.  It is like trying to figure out who Kate will end up with or how Hurley got fatter in season 1 despite being stranded on an island with little food to speak of.

Ray Allen?  How do you explain his slump?  This is deja vu from a year ago but this time we don't have KG around to pick up the slack.  How does Rajon Rondo look like the best PG in the world in one game and pedestrian the next?  How does Paul Pierce disappear for stretches at a time and then take over a game only to choke away free throws later. 

It isn't all bad either.  Some of the twists have been great.  Aside from last night, Glen Davis has exceeded all reasonable expectations of him.  Stephon Marbury playing the role of savior?  Scalabrine playing the role of James Posey?  Perkins basically playing Dwight Howard to a standstill in the series?  These are things I didn't count on but without them we are sitting home right now wondering about next year.

And that's where we could be as early as Monday morning.

You could argue that we're playing with house money at this point anyway.  We could have done what the San Antonio Spurs did and bow gracefully out of the playoffs in round 1 and nobody outside of Boston would have been overly surprised.  But here we are, one win away from the ECF and who really knows what will happen in game 7?

Maybe Ray will go off for 30 points and we'll roll to victory.  Maybe Rondo will drop a triple double and we'll need a buzzer beater from Mikki Moore (because both Perk and Davis had fouled out) to win the game.  Maybe we'll see Paul and Ray go 0 for 30 and lose a tight game despite a career high from Scalabrine.  Or maybe all the Magic shooters will break out of their own mini-slumps all at once and we'll lose by 20.  And maybe we'll find out the truth about Jacob and what happens with the bomb.

I have no idea what to expect anymore.  I just hope that the season continues so we can see more twists and turns and storylines galore.  I don't want the season to end because I hate summer reruns and I'm a little turned off by baseball right now.

Game 7, where amazing happens.  And by "amazing" I mean "nothing would surprise me."