Barnes: Magic may have been overconfident

Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs with ease, only to lose home-court advantage after a game one loss to the Orlando Magic. They went on to lose the series, and it’s clear looking back that they may have underestimated the eventual Eastern Conference Champions. A year later, it’s the Magic who swept through the first two rounds, only to be suffer an upset loss to the Boston Celtics in game one of the conference finals. 

“Being 8-0 in the playoffs – I can’t speak for everyone – but we may have been feeling ourselves too much,” Matt Barnes said. “They kicked our (butts) last night, and now we have to get back to work.”

Barnes went on to say that the fourth-seeded Celtics are clearly a tougher opponent than the third-seeded Hawks, whom the Magic swept in the second round, saying “Not to take anything away from Atlanta, but 7 days off & playing Atlanta is a lot different than playing Boston.”