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Whatever happened to never letting your opponent see you sweat? The Orlando Magic’s frustration can easily be seen in their body language and the tone of their recent interviews. Every missed field goal attempt, every foul called, turnover committed and defeat does nothing but elevate the pressure surrounding the team.

Of course, it wasn’t supposed to be heading in this direction for the Magic.

Last year, in the second round of the playoffs, Orlando swept the upstart Hawks by posting a whopping 25 point average victory margin while rollicking to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Fast forward almost a year later and the Magic find themselves in roughly the same predicament the 2010 Hawks squad once had to endure. But how did the Magic end up this position floundering aimlessly trying to recapture the positive energy and regain the form of a team once considered to be a championship contender?

In a word – overconfidence.

The Hawks won the regular season series 3-1 versus the Magic and after those losses Orlando followed the expected script.

All-Star center Dwight Howard would applaud the Hawks hustle and talent level.

Head coach Stan Van Gundy even went as far to say the Hawks were the better team after Atlanta won the final game of the matchup on March 30.

But the Magic’s true thoughts on the Hawks were revealed on national television as the regular season wound to a close and Orlando suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Chicago Bulls.

Magic veteran guard Jameer Nelson, part of Orlando’s leadership core, told Bulls MVP candidate Derrick Rose "see you in the second round."

Sure the remark was caught postgame inadvertently by ABC microphones as Nelson attempted to share a private moment with Rose. The quote was never meant for public consumption. However it has since been used as a rallying cry for the heavy underdog Hawks.

Despite the Hawks’ regular season dominance, the Magic clearly viewed Atlanta as an unworthy little brother with whom they still had a mental advantage over.

To put it simply, Orlando was no different than a championship boxer entering the ring out of shape versus a contender viewed as inferior competition. 

Atlanta and Orlando clearly entered the season with two different levels of expectation.

The Hawks entered the season trying to finally get past the second round of the playoffs after consecutive sweeps in the round the past two seasons.

On the other hand, the Magic began the campaign with a burdening championship or bust goal issued from the top of their front office down to the players and quickly absorbed by their fan base.

But as the heat of the playoffs keep rising, the Magic is the team attempting to regain an edge in the series – this time trying to work through the media.

Case in point.

Van Gundy openly applauded the defense played on Howard by Hawks veteran big man Jason Collins after the Magic’s loss at Philips Arena on March 30.

Rightfully so since Collins was a major reason Howard was held to a mere 17 points on a woeful 4-of-13 shooting from the floor. 

"That’s the best defense I’ve seen all year on Dwight," Van Gundy said regarding Collins’ defensive prowess last month. "Against Collins, he didn’t get a lot of good shots. I thought he did a great job on him. He’s big and physical. He doesn’t give you anything easy. Dwight had trouble getting good, on-balance shots."    

{AUTHOR_BOX} That was before the Magic dug themselves into a 2-1 postseason series ditch versus the Hawks. What a difference a month makes when the stakes are raised under the bright lights of center stage.

On Saturday Van Gundy was singing a totally different tune as it related to the Hawks’ crop of big men.     

"I like it when guys stand up and fight like men," Van Gundy said Saturday after practice. "I think that is what the game is all about. The one thing that frustrates me is all the flopping."

"The one thing I learned is our guys are a lot stronger than I thought they were," Van Gundy continued tongue-in-cheek.

Van Gundy now feels the Hawks are receiving the benefit of being able to bang Howard relentlessly without the worry of being punished by the referees with a foul call.

"All I would like to see is let’s either play it physical, or if we are going to call [fouls] when a guy barely gets hit and he flops down and lays on the floor, then let’s call every time Dwight gets hit," Van Gundy said.

The referees are becoming the scapegoats. The guys in the stripes are a good culprit for any team struggling given their penchant to draw angst from just about everyone.

But the fact remains that no other players on the Magic’s roster besides Howard and Nelson entered the series mentally prepared for resistance from the Hawks and it has been evident throughout.

Howard is averaging an astounding 33.3 points and 17.7 rebounds on 67 percent shooting for the series.

The Defensive Player of the Year has amassed 50 free throw attempts (16 per contest) in the first three games of the series and is logging 46 minutes per outing. Simply put, the referees have been granting Howard the benefit of the whistle and on average he’s only missed two minutes of court time in the tilt.

Instead of focusing on Hedo Turkoglu being rendered ineffective by a solid defensive effort from Hawks forward Josh Smith, or the fact J.J. Redick and Jason Richardson have combined to shoot a woeful 15-of-48 from the floor, or Brandon Bass’ struggles being tasked with guarding All-Star center Al Hoford, Van Gundy is looking outside of the locker room for a boost in the team’s waning level of confidence. 

Right now, the Magic are a victim of their own overconfidence.

They never fully embraced Atlanta as a team capable of pushing them to the limit; to the brink .They fully expected Atlanta to wither and fade after beating them up in game two. No one expected the Hawks to be the team with a realistic shot at taking a commanding 3-1 series advantage. Everyone fully expected that any angling in the press for an edge would be initiated by the Hawks once Orlando started imposing their will. Instead we’re witnessing a potential upset emerging.

This is a potential story of redemption for the Hawks, with last season’s embarrassment at the hands of Orlando serving as the fuel in their engines. Maybe, just maybe the Hawks’ current core can prove their doubters wrong and capture their fans’ hearts and minds – and most importantly make the Magic believers. 

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