The Sixers won Game 1 over the Magic 100-98 to take home-court advantage away from Orlando. While they were thrilled to beat a team that had 18 more regular-season wins than them, the Sixers would like to head home with a 2-0 lead.
"Our team has confidence," said Sixers head coach Tony DiLeo. "They want to win the series. We won't back down. We'll come out Wednesday (for Game 2) and play as hard as we can and let the chips fall where they may." The Sixers' game plan was for Samuel Dalembert and Theo Ratliff to single-cover Dwight Howard (31 points, 16 rebounds) as much as possible. While Howard was a huge factor, not doubling him allowed the other Sixers to better contest the outside shooters that had hurt them in the regular season.
The Sixers were outscored by an average of 20 points on three-pointers in three regular-season losses to the Magic, but scored six more points beyond the arc (21-15) in Sunday's victory.
"Our defensive schemes were better and all the little things were better," DiLeo said.
Andre Iguodala, who hit the game-winning jumper with 2.2 seconds left, made sure to remind everybody that the Sixers also won Game 1 at Detroit last year, only to lose the series in six games.
"We've been in this situation before," Iguodala said. "We still have to stay confident in ourselves and keep pushing."
SIXERS 100, MAGIC 98: The Sixers took a 1-0 lead by overcoming an 18-point deficit late in the third quarter in Orlando. They outscored the Magic 35-19 in the fourth quarter en route to shooting .512 from the field, including .583 on three-pointers. The Sixers won despite going 11-for-20 from the foul line (.550).
Andre Iguodala paced the Sixers with 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Lou Williams added 18 points, and Andre Miller had 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
