Bianchi: After Magic’s historic meltdown, how can they possibly beat Pistons in Game 7?

This was supposed to be the night the series ended and the Orlando Magic rose up. Instead, it was the night the series continued and everything came tumbling down. The night when the Orlando Magic were up by 24 points at home in Game 6 with a chance to close out the top-seeded Detroit Pistons and win their first playoff series in 16 years.

And instead they folded like a flea market lawn chair. Pistons 93, Magic 79. And now, the Orlando Magic are headed back to Detroit for a Game 7 on Sunday; not with momentum, not with clarity, but with questions about their guts, their composure and their inability to close out a series they once led 3-1.

Magic fans came to see history on Friday night, and, sadly, they saw it – just not in the way they had imagined. They saw the Magic get outscored 55-19 in the second half and score the least amount of points in a half of any team in playoff history. They saw the Magic allow the largest comeback by a road team facing elimination in 30 years.

How can this happen? How can this possibly happen? How can the Magic miss 23 straight shots at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth?