With their latest win, the Magic are one step closer to an historic comeback, versus the Celtics from the recently much maligned city of Boston (see Bruins).

So what were their chances of winning four straight earlier in the series?  Well the marked difference between team performance and average line, and how each compared to the series odds was addressed in the Eastern Conference Finals analysis here.  But the disparity of the odds is never more evident than it is when calculating the chances of overcoming the 3-0 deficit.  Here were the odds for the Magic down 3-0.

And here are the current odds of overcoming a 3-2 deficit:

The conspicuous difference in average line metrics (Pyth L, Linear L) and those based on performance (Pyth Eff, Linear Eff) suggests perhaps the oddsmakers weren’t sold on the Magic as a championship contender. Yet the reverse is true for Boston, which explains the drastic fluctuation in the magnitude when measuring the two team components. The season statistics are diametric opposites.

Boston underperformed the market, roughly by a margin of 1.5 pts.  And Orlando overperformed their market, by around 1 pt.