None of these teams are invincible, they were all significantly better than their opponents up until now, but all these teams got here because they were tougher and better at closing out games. Now that they're matched up against other elite teams their margin for winning is much narrower.
What was quality about the Cavs/Magic game is how many points were scored by both teams against two of the statistically better defensive teams in the league. The officials were giving LeBron a lot of calls that he didn't deserve, including the one where Dwight Howard was called for his 6th. That isn't just my opinion, in the post game rehash, Barkley was commenting on game film, saying that's not a foul, that's not a foul.
Orlando had to overcome a lot to get that win last night, and shooting a three is not a mistake if it goes in. In fact you could criticize Cleveland for doing the same thing. It's a coaching philosophy and it's based on confidence in your shooters, amd it comes from experience seeing these players successful in those same types of circumstances.
If you look at the number of points scored by each team in crunch time last night, you quickly realize that these teams sank a greater number of shots at the end in comparison with their western counterparts. (Garbage time free throws don't count) These are in game, well-executed shots against good defense. Orlando has a couple of players they can go to at the end, Cleveland really only has two, and it was a Mo Williams missed shot that lost the game for Cleveland. It is this feature of the Magic that stands out, they can go to Hedo or Lewis or Howard for the last shot, and none of them are easy to stop, they other players can all hit open shots, and Cleveland left them open to prevent drives by Hedo or Lewis.
Having more than one player you can trust in crunch time gives you a competitive advantage, even if the other teams have one player that is head and shoulders above the rest. Lebron is clearly the best player on the floor, but the Magics combination of multiple players makes them that much tougher to stop. Cleveland was statistically among the league leaders in defense, yet in their first game defending the Magic at home in the playoffs, the results were very disheartening for Cleveland. Orlando shot a blistering 55% from the field and 45% from 3 point-land. That's too much for any team to overcome. Contrast that with the shooting from the other series and it's clear that Orlando has got it going on.
