Originally Posted by Dumars4Ever

I'm not sure I agree with your premise there, about easy 2nd round matchups. Let's review the 2nd round series over the last four years:

2004: Pistons over NJ in 7. This turned out to be their toughest series of that title run, in the sense that they actually faced elimination, which didn't happen in any of the other playoff series that year.

Good point with that series. Altough NJ only had won 46 or 47 games they were more experienced and had the mental edge of having swept us the year before in the ECF. I still remember hearing Mat Dery call the series over when we won the 1st 2 at the Palace. But NJ did not fold. They won game 3, then game 4, then game 5.

2005: Pistons over Indy in 6. This was a tougher series than it should have been, as this Indy team wasn't particularly strong. But the Pistons made it awfully interesting by going down 2-1 and having to win Game 4 at Indy to avoid a 3-1 hole.

Indy did have the revenge factor on their side over the brawl destroying their season but this was also the "If it ain't rough it ain't right" period where the team did not really give it 100% unless they were facing elimination.

2006: Pistons over Cleveland in 7. A bad signal of things to come--no one thought this would be a tough series, and it probably shouldn't have been, but it sure was.

That one never should have went 7, Pistons should have swept them.

2007: Pistons over Chicago in 6. I think we all expected this to be a tough series, in fact, the toughest the Pistons would face in the East. So it was a surprise when the Pistons went ahead 3-0, but then disappointing that they got crushed in the next two games, and then it swung back to positive when they toughed out a gritty Game 6 win in Chicago to close it out.

I was never afraid of Chic myself. Pistons did not have much problems with them during the season and nothing stuck out as a matchup problem. We let them back into the series.

So I don't think the Pistons have had much slack past the first round in recent years, although some of that (I think certainly the '05 and '06 second rounds) was self-inflicted via under-performing against teams they should have handled more easily.

Though perhaps that's really the point you're making, max: this Orlando team is good enough to force the Pistons to play at a high level to beat them over a 7-game series, without much room for slacking off. I do agree with that premise.

Yes thats exactly it. Here I am making some assumptions that Orlando will win their 1st round but given how weak 6-8 will be I think I am safe here. I see Orlando as the best team that the Pistons will have had to face in the 2nd round under the current core. Orlando scares me because they have the potential to beat us. Will they? I doubt it but if the Pistons take even 1 game off that could give the Magic enough leverage to take the series.