CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers were underdogs going into their first-round playoff series. Both teams will be looking to close things out on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) in their respective Game 5s.
Orlando looks to become the seventh No. 8 seed to advance when it plays at top-seeded Detroit.
The fourth-seeded Lakers, who are without the injured Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, host the fifth-seeded Rockets, who have missed Kevin Durant for three of the four games.
Cleveland hosts Toronto with that series tied at two games apiece. It’s the only first-round series where the home court has held up. The Cavaliers won the first two before the Raptors evened things over the weekend.
The Magic — who are looking to win a playoff series for the first time since 2010 — have plenty of momentum after winning both games in Orlando. But they haven’t won a Game 5 on the road in the playoffs, going 0-9.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position to try to get four [wins], but right now it means nothing. We’ve got the advantage, and right now we’ve just got to make sure we keep that advantage,” coach Jamahl Mosley said.
Orlando is also looking to be only the second No. 8 seed to win its first-round series after advancing through the play-in tournament. Miami did it in 2023 when it dispatched Milwaukee in five games. The Heat ended up advancing to the NBA Finals, where they lost to Denver.
Detroit hasn’t advanced past the first round since 2008. Pistons fans can take some solace that they were the last team to come back from a 3-1 first-round deficit as a top seed. And it was against the Magic in 2003.
