The Detroit Pistons appeared to dodge a bullet when the Orlando Magic were the team to make it out of the NBA Play-In Tournament to challenge them in the first round of the playoffs.
Fast forward to now, Detroit trails the 8-seeded Magic 1-0 in a seven-game series that many thought they would win with a sweep; maybe even a gentleman's sweep if things really went downhill.
Considering how inconsistent the Magic have looked throughout the regular season, all signs pointed to the Pistons escaping round one with rest on their side; that was before reality sank in that Jamahl Mosley's squad may have been playing possum all along.
The Magic are a real threat to Detroit
Orlando may not have been viewed as a championship contender entering the postseason, but entering the regular season, many believed they could be running the wide-open East this season.
The Magic landed Desmond Bane in the offseason, and the pairing of the sharpshooter was viewed as the move that could help alleviate the offensive pressure on the team's wing duo of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.
However, those offseason plans didn't seem to fall together like the team hoped, putting them in the Play-In Tournament.
And while that may have put them in a position to be overlooked, it seems that another thing being overlooked was the team's injury history, which could be to blame for their lack of chemistry up to this point.
In Sunday's 112-101 win over the Pistons on the road, the Magic seemed like a team that not only is finally starting to put it all together, but a team that could exploit the Pistons' biggest weaknesses to give them a run for their money in the first round.
Orlando is making Cade Cunningham beat them
Mosley's defensive mindset is one of the biggest reasons the Magic have risen to a playoff-caliber team over the last few seasons.
Entering the series, it was expected that Orlando would have a game plan to slow down the Pistons, but the hope within the fanbase was that the team could prove the outside perception of their weaknesses wrong.
Detroit's biggest concern all season has been the lack of scoring outside of Cunningham, and even with the rise of big man Jalen Duren, the fear heading into postseason play was if the All-NBA hopeful could be the No. 2 scoring option on a championship team.
The Magic, though, took that option away from the Motor City squad on Sunday, allowing Duren to only put up four shots, finishing with eight points in 33 minutes of play.
If Orlando continues to force Cunningham to single handedly beat them and the Pistons can't find a way to exploit that game plan, the No. 1 seed in the East could be at risk of a major upset nobody saw coming.
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