“Like a fat person on a diet, it sucks.”——–Charles Barkley

The Chuckster said this during an interview on Inside the NBA with Ernie Johnson. He was referencing his recent gambling problems.

Hang in there Chuck.

The Magic are headed into the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1996…

That’s great. But now they are probably going to face off, once again, against the Detroit Pistons.

I’ve been saying it all year, and I’ll say it again here, I don’t think the Magic can beat the Pistons, at least not this year. The difference in my mind will be at the point guard position. Each time the Pistons play the Magic, Chauncey Billups eats Jameer Nelson alive. He posts him up, he blows by him off the dribble, and each time the Pistons advance, and the Magic go home.

Granted, the Magic are much better than they have been in years past. Hedo Turkoglu is playing great, Rashard Lewis has played very well, especially in the last few weeks, Dwight Howard is well….Dwight Howard.

But I think they key to this series might be somebody who is flying under the radar right now, and that’s Maurice Evans. As Brian Schmitz of the Sentinel pointed out, Evans will probably be the one guarding Rip Hamilton. Evans spent some time playing with Hamilton and the Pistons a few years ago, so he will be familiar with all the moves Hamilton will make.

Detroit still has to finish off the Sixers, but even if Philly wins tonight, I still don’t see them beating the Pistons, in Game 7, in Detroit.

The Magic have a chance to win to beat the Pistons, but only if Nelson can figure out a way to keep Billups from going off.

I had a bad feeling that this was going to happen once the Magic got to Toronto…

The Magic looked rattled through a majority of the game. I’m not sure whether it was the crowd noise, or whether the Raptors just started hitting their shots, but they better get it together before game 4…

Hey Jameer, you played great in Games 1 and 2 at home, but you got to Toronto and went off for….6 points….yep, the point guard of the future….

Anyone else realize that Marcin Gortat, who hardly played all year, has taken Adonal Foyle’s minutes?

Was that the artist formerly known as J.J. Redick who made an appearance in the fourth quarter?

Bottom Line: The Magic need to get their perimeter defense together if they have any shot to win game 4….