EASTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS
Where the Magic happened
Nick Nurse was nervous. Very nervous.
Of the teams the second-place Raptors (58-24) could have faced in the first round – the Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers or Brooklyn Nets – the coach most feared the Magic.
Orlando was probably the best of the four defensively and had finished the regular season on a tear, going 20-9 in the final weeks of the regular season to grab the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference with a 42-40 record.
They had the shooting to stay with Toronto, conventional wisdom went, and Terrence Ross gave the Magic some juice off the bench, Steve Clifford was a coach-of-the-year finalist and Nikola Vucevic had been an all-star just two months earlier.