The Cavs and Magic were the NBA's two best defensive teams in the regular season and they've been the two best defensive teams in the Playoffs. Both Mike Brown and Stan Van Gundy know which end of the floor gets you farther in the postseason, and their teams are reflections of their defense-first philosophies.

LeBron James and Dwight Howard have been the headliners of the Eastern Conference Playoffs so far, but it has been defense that is most responsible for this first-time postseason matchup, which gets started Wednesday night (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

The Orlando offense, however, gave the Cleveland defense plenty of trouble in the regular season. In their three games, two won by the Magic, Orlando shot 48.1 percent from the field. On April 3, the last time the Cavs lost with LeBron James in uniform, the Magic made 44 of their 82 shots (53.7 percent).

For the season, the Cavs allowed just 103.8 points per 100 possessions, but Orlando scored more than 12 points more per 100 against the Cavs in their three matchups. Only two teams (the Lakers and Kings) were more efficient offensively against the Cavs this season.

It's no secret that the Magic are a tough team to guard. With Dwight Howard in the post and four shooters around him, there's no weak spot on the floor. Against the Hawks, the Cavs were able to leave Josh Smith open on the perimeter all game and double-team Joe Johnson almost every time he touched the ball.

But they won't have that luxury in this series. The only non-shooters in the Magic rotation are Howard and his backup, Marcin Gortat. And neither ventures far from the basket except to set a screen. Even Tony Battie can come off the bench and knock down a mid-range jumper or two.

So Brown knows that double-teaming Howard in the post or Hedo Turkoglu on pick-and-rolls is a risky strategy.

"Any time you commit two to the ball with the way that they shoot, whether it's in a pick-and-roll, in the post, or in an iso situation, you're freeing somebody up," Brown said Tuesday after practice. "A great shooting team wants people to commit two to the ball no matter what situation it's in."

The Cavs will double Howard in the post at times. It won't be automatic, but rather a judgement call by one of the other defenders on the floor. Zydrunas Ilgauskas has the size and strength to hold his own in defending Howard, but nobody can completely stop the Magic center.

In the April 3 loss, the Cavs' big men dropped back when Turkoglu came off a high screen, and he was happy to take one or two more dribbles to get a better look at the basket or make a play for his teammates. With his size and skills, Turkoglu is one of the more dangerous pick-and-roll ballhandlers in the league.

Against Atlanta, the Cavs' bigs did a good job of coming out on top of the screen and making the Hawks' ballhandler move away from the basket. Look for Cleveland to use that strategy at least some of the time against Turkoglu and Rafer Alston in this series.

Another concern for Brown is transition defense. Though the Cavs turned the ball over just 10.3 times per game against Orlando, the Magic averaged 18.3 fast-break points in the three games, including 20 in the April 3 loss.

So a good portion of the film that Brown and his staff have shown the players over the last two days has been clips of defensive transition possessions. When you've got two great defensive teams playing against each other, you can't give your opponent anything easy. The Cavs are a great defensive team, but more so when they're set up in the halfcourt.

With their 66 wins in the regular season and their perfect record in the Playoffs so far, the Cavs have proven to be the best team in the league. They have just two losses in the last 28 games that James has played. But this is one matchup that can definitely knock them off their stride. And the Magic are a team that can make the Cavs' defense look far from elite.

"Hopefully, this time around, it will be a different ball game than what it was in the regular season," Brown said. "But we've got to go out and we've got to play the right way in order to see.

"[The Magic are] a good team," Brown said. "They're going to make multiple threes in a row. They're going to go on runs. They're going to score. We as a team have to just make sure we don't drop our head when they do do that. And we just keep trying to hit back."

NBA.com's John Schuhmann will be covering the Eastern Conference finals and the NBA Finals. If you have a question or comment for him, send him an e-mail. You can also follow him on twitter.