April 27th, 2003: The 8th seed Orlando Magic go up 3-1 against the 1 seed Detroit Pistons led by a star forward in a low scoring game of 100-92

April 27th, 2026: The 8th seed Orlando Magic go up 3-1 against the 1 seed Detroit Pistons led by a star forward in a low scoring game of 94-88.

The history for this series has yet to be written but the former is one of the three 3-1 leads that Doc Rivers would infamously blow as a head coach; the Pistons would win Games 5-7 by a margin of 17 points per game.

KaraDealer | Lakers

94 | 7 hours ago

The infamous T-Mac quote when he was up 3-1

“It feels good to be in the second round.” 😭

haveyoumetdustin | Magic

29 | 5 hours ago

It was the first year of the 7 game first round format so he definitely thought the series was literally over, still haunts us though

commiecat | Heat

11 | 4 hours ago

No, he thought they’d surely win one of the next three.

triosway | Heat

4 | an hour ago

There had only been six blown 3-1 leads in the entire history of the league up to that point; no doubt he prematurely assumed they’d close it out

Daki399 | Nuggets

20 | 6 hours ago

The guy was asking for karma to hit him back

KindlyPerspective389 | Knicks

12 | 5 hours ago

lmaooo he said that? insane and also surprised i’ve never heard this before.

Bulky-Scheme-9450

2 | 5 hours ago

TMac of all people should know something about improbable comebacks…

False_Pear1860

10 | 3 hours ago

If you’re referring to his 13 points in 35 seconds, that happened later than the series where he blew a 3-1 lead.

HOFredditor | Warriors

2 | an hour ago

no wonder why Kobe said years later “Job’s not finished”.

nathanielsnurpis | SAC

31 | 9 hours ago

Tay went prime D mode and started locking everybody down.

Italian_Shevek

12 | 9 hours ago

Maybe is Ron Holland time then. It’s not like we can do worse than what we’re doing.

EmergencyAccording94

2 | 8 hours ago

He also scored 15 in G5 and 20 in G7. It was a risky but genius move giving him minutes considering he was a rookie and didn’t make a single shot in the first 4 games.

Billups also turned into prime Steph Curry in the last 2 games. Ben averaged 14 points, 17 rebounds, 3 steals and 4 blocks in the last 3 games.

Magic had absolutely no business going up 3-1 or winning any games if not for TMac.

Plus-Cherry8175

33 | 8 hours ago

Doc “Plague Doctor” Rivers. What a coach

CalebosO4 | Raptors

3 | 3 hours ago

His two crowning achievements that he thinks makes him one of the best coaches was winning his one title with a super team, and blowing a 3-1 lead as an 8-seed.

Balgary | Knicks

27 | 8 hours ago

Jeryl Sasser was on that Orlando Magics team in 2003, today his nephew Marcus Sasser is on the Detroit team.

TiredMillennialDad | Magic

2 | 4 hours ago

That’s a deep pull. Nicely done.

Basilikolumne | Heat

26 | 8 hours ago

100 - 92 wasn’t low scoring for 2003 tho

mrleakybutthole

4 | 7 hours ago

Good point.

I really do miss that style of basketball.

vindictivejazz | Thunder

2 | an hour ago

Well then do I have really good news for you about this current Pistons-Magic series!

DynamixRo | Clippers

10 | 7 hours ago

Mosley needs to give Doc Rivers a call and do the exact opposite of what he says.

stephzh | Lakers

6 | 6 hours ago

That was 23 years ago… FUCK

CazOnReddit | Raptors

0 | 6 hours ago

My hands developed arthritis and my metabolism slowed as I wrote this

Playful-Variation908 | Magic

4 | 6 hours ago

If Franz is out for the series it might happen again

chickmagn3t | Lakers

2 | 5 hours ago

The painful realization that you need role players who steps up when the game slows down.

Just look at Spencer Jones from the nuggets last night. Them superstars and stars are gonna do what they do. But the stars in role players are the difference makers.

I’m qouting LeBron James

0010001 | Wizards

1 | 3 hours ago

This was an important step in that Detroit core winning the title the following year.

Available_Story6774 | West

1 | 2 hours ago

Glenn Rivers ain’t walking through that door.

ConsciousSkin1079

1 | 18 minutes ago

So you’re saying there’s a chance

escapedhousefly | Magic

0 | 6 hours ago

Good thing Bickerstaff isn’t anywhere close to Larry Brown. Bad thing is Mosley is even worse than Doc Rivers.

layofftheweed | Warriors

-5 | 6 hours ago

Yes. Playoffs happen around the same time every year

The Orlando Magic went up 3-1 against the Detroit Pistons exactly 23 years ago to the day they previously went up 3-1 against the Detroit Pistons