Chris Webber: the Magic Should Be Worried Despite Being Up 3-2 on Pistons

Six NBA playoff series still hung in the balance, and Rich wanted Chris Webber to pick the team in the most trouble.

Rich laid out the board on The Rich Eisen Show. The Detroit Pistons had their hands full with the Orlando Magic, needing a road win and then a Game 7. The Minnesota Timberwolves were up 3-2 on Denver but down Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo for that night's tilt. The Los Angeles Lakers, once up 3-0 on Houston, had squandered the lead and now needed to steal one in Texas to avoid a Game 7 in Los Angeles. The New York Knicks were trying to close out Atlanta. The Cleveland Cavaliers had to do the same in Toronto.

Who is in the worst spot up 3-2?

Webber did not hesitate. Orlando.

"By all comments, they should have knocked this one out," Webber said. He pointed to youth. When the pressure shifts, a young team does not want to be on the road in a Game 7. Webber said the only team in those scenarios that he believed could mount a real comeback from down 3-2 was the Pistons, citing record, seeding, and home environment.

Webber also addressed Denver directly. He had taken heat from friends after a previous segment where he questioned Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets, and he was not walking it back.

"I think it's over for Denver," Webber said.

Rich pressed him on the Lakers. Los Angeles had dropped two straight. Turnovers. Open threes from the corner the Lakers could not contest. Austin Reaves had missed twelve shots from the field the night before. Rich wanted to know if any of that worried Webber.

It did not.

Webber pointed first to coaching, saying the Lakers had cooler heads on the bench when the team's execution slipped. Then he corrected himself. He should have led with LeBron James.

"I don't care how bad of a game he played," Webber said.

Webber acknowledged that one day of rest could be a problem, but he trusted James to finish the series. He brought up the bubble title in 2020 as evidence, calling it a discipline win that younger players would not have been able to deliver. The focus and concentration required to win in that environment, Webber said, gets undersold.

The message Webber expects James to deliver to his team over the next two games is simple. Win through discipline or watch the worst happen.

The former All-Star also reminded Rich that James has come back from 3-1 before. If anyone in the league knows what is possible from a hole, it is him.

Webber's read on the bracket put Orlando squarely on upset watch. The Magic had the lead. They had the chance to put it away. Now they were heading back to Detroit, and a young roster on the road in a Game 7 is not where any coaching staff wants to live.

The Nuggets, in his view, were already done. The Lakers were not.

That left the Magic carrying the most weight into the next 48 hours.