Cavaliers-Magic: Inside the Eastern Conference finals

There's some fresh blood in the Eastern Conference finals. The Orlando Magic haven't been this far in the Playoffs since 1996. The Cleveland Cavaliers were here two years ago, but LeBron James' supporting cast has almost completely changed since then.

The Cavs are coming off another long layoff. The Magic are coming off a long, grueling series. One team has been tested multiple times, while the other has seemingly been on cruise control since early April.

The Cavs had a league-best 66 wins in the regular season and have been the most dominant team in the Playoffs so far. But this round promises to be much tougher than the last two.

The Magic have won eight of the last 11 meetings between these two teams, including two comfortable wins this season. But both of those were at Amway Arena, and if they're going to reach The Finals, they'll have to find a way to get at least one win in Cleveland, where the Cavs are now 43-1 with LeBron James in uniform.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Mike Brown vs. Stan Van Gundy

The Cavs and Magic are both led by All-NBA stars who are mismatches for anybody else at their position. To say that James and Dwight Howard create matchup problems is an understatement.

So how you defend them is always a key question for their opponents. The Pistons and Hawks both tried multiple looks in defending James. The Celtics and Sixers each had some success in using single coverage on Howard. But none of the above were successful enough.

The problem, of course, is that neither the Cavs nor Magic are one-man teams. They each have additional All-Stars and several other guys who can make plays and make shots. So, opposing coaches have to pick their poison.

Brown was named Coach of the Year, while Van Gundy finished third in the voting. Both worked their way up the coaching ladder, having never played a minute of NBA basketball. They're students of the game more than anything.

Seven game series are about adjustments, and you're sure to see some in the Eastern Conference finals. As much as LeBron vs. Dwight, this series promises to be a battle of coaching wits.

BEHIND THE NUMBERS

43.4 -- The Cavs shot better from 3-point range (43.4 percent) than from 2-point range (41.1 percent) in their three games against the Magic this season.

FIVE QUESTIONS

1. Are the Magic a worse matchup for the Cavs than the Celtics would have been?

Absolutely. As we witnessed in Game 7 on Sunday, the Magic's legs aren't quite as tired as the Celtics' legs are. If Boston had advanced, we were sure to have seen a couple of comfortable Cleveland victories where the champs just didn't have it.

But the Magic are younger, healthier and fresher. They've proven to be a better defensive team than the KG-less Celtics, so they should keep every game relatively close. They also have multiple long defenders that can guard James at times, where Boston would have been limited with the number of guys who could have matched up with the MVP.

The last time the Cavs lost a game with James in uniform was April 3 in Orlando ... by 29 points. And in the Cavs' win in Cleveland on March 17, the Magic actually led by a point with a minute left in the game.

2. How did the Magic have so much success against the Cavs?

First, they're a great defensive team. It starts there. But they also shot well from 3-point range in the three games.

The Cavs actually led the league by allowing their opponents to shoot just 33.3 percent from downtown. And they gave up just 5.9 threes per game.

Against the Magic though, the Cavs' perimeter defense wasn't good enough. Orlando shot 34-for-86 (39.5 percent) from 3-point range in the three games, averaging 11.3 threes per contest.

Like the Magic, the Cavs are a great defensive team. But they're at their best when they can focus on one thing. A team that has inside-out balance like the Magic do will have a greater chance of cracking the Cleveland D.

3. But can the Magic win a game at the Q in the postseason?

Hey, they won a Game 7 in Boston. Sure, the champs were shorthanded, but blowing them out in their gym in a winner-takes-all situation is no small feat. So, taking a game at the Q certainly isn't out of the question.

"I think the biggest thing for us is going into Cleveland with the same mentality we had [Sunday]," Howard said after the Game 7 win, "which is starting the game and finishing the game with great intensity."

4. So will the Cavs finally face some real adversity?

Yes. And we will finally see what they're really made of. Specifically, we'll see if Mo Williams is ready for the pressure of high-stakes playoff basketball.

Williams admittedly showed some nerves in Cleveland's first round series against Detroit. He looked more comfortable against the Hawks, but he has still yet to have the ball in his hands in a critical postseason possession. That should happen in this series.

The Magic have already played several close games in this postseason. The Cavs haven't come close. So the first time a game in this series comes down to the final couple of minutes, it will be interesting to see which team handles it better.

5. What stat should we be keeping a close eye on?

Turnovers. These are the two best defensive teams in the league. Open shots in the halfcourt will be few and far between, so each team will be looking to get as many easy looks at the basket in transition as possible. With scoring likely to be low, every possession will be precious. Taking care of the ball is a high priority for both teams.

In the game that Orlando lost in Cleveland this season, the Magic turned the ball over 16 times. In their blowout win in April, they turned it over just eight times.

PREDICTION

Cavs in 5. Yes, the Cavs will finally face some adversity. Yes, the Magic are a tough matchup for Cleveland. And yes, Dwight Howard is a beast. But the bottom line is that the Cavs are the better team, they hold the home-court advantage, and they have the best player in the world, who has shown through the first two rounds that he's on a mission in this postseason.