How You Lose

Tonight in Orlando, the Sixers missed a chance to put a hammerlock on their series with Orlando, and the home-court Magic knotted the series at 1-1.

If you want to be positive about it for the road team, there is this.

> They came back again from 18 down to make a run, this time cutting it to 6;

> Dwight Howard didn't eviscerate them this time around, limiting to him to 11 and 10 and 30 fouled-out minutes

> Andre Miller, who has to dominate his matchup over the course of the series if the Sixers will steal it, took down a 30-7-3 line

> Thaddeus Young looked as good as he has since getting hurt, with 20 on 9 of 15 shooting

> Andre Iguodala continued to come up big with a 21-8-7 line, shooting 50% from the floor with 3 steals

If you want to feel less happy, there's this.

> Howard fouled out with 3 minutes left and the game in the balance, and the teams more or less traded buckets after that

> Hedo Turkoglu, the Magic's most important player in tight games due to their reliance on him in the fourth quarter, went 16-6-3 and also looked the best he has since injury

> They haven't had an answer for Courtney Lee in two games, and Lee's young enough that he might not know that he shouldn't show up on the road

> The Magic only shot 6 of 23 from three point land and still won by 9, thanks to a 22 to 12 advantage in made free throws

> They got out-rebounded despite Howard being in foul trouble, and continue to get next to nothing from Sam Dalembert

> The bench, after a huge Game 1 led by Donyell Marshall's fourth quarter heroics, had 12 points on 5 for 20 shooting from six players, none of whom had a good night, and finally

> It's the playoffs. You lose the game, you don't get to feel happy.

Game Three is in Philadelphia on Friday, and with Flyer Fever at low ebb, maybe they get a crowd. I'm not sure they've done enough to get over the skepticism. But in any event, if they lose that game, they'll lose the series. (And if you're noticing certain parallels to last year's Doom With Honor first round exit against Detroit, shh. We're trying to stay positive here.)