Three keys to Magic-Sixers

-Inside early and often: it is no secret that Dwight Howard is going to be the biggest force in this series. Philadelphia simply has no one to guard him. Samuel Dalembert, Marreesse Speights and Theo Ratliff will try their best, but ultimately they only have 18 fouls to spend on Howard.

Howard, though, has not necessarily torched Philadelphia this season as he should. He averaged only 15.7 points and 10.0 rebounds against the 76ers and took only 25 shots in three games. He will clearly need to do more for Orlando to have the kind of dominating success it should have against this Philadelphia team.

I can see Howard having another dominating first round like he had last year against Toronto. But he is going to really need to focus in on this one. I expect Philadelphia to send constant double teams at him. His passing is going to have to be sharp because all the attention given to him is going to leave holes open on the outside.

But even if Howard is not scoring, it is important for him to still get his shots and get the ball. Because without Howard touching the ball, the Magic become a jump-shooting team which feeds Philadelphia's fast break. Howard cannot be left out of the offense for long for Orlando to succeed in the series.

-Don't get caught running: Orlando can and should play fast. But that is exactly what Philadelphia likes to do. It may seem uncharacteristic for a team like the Magic, but they need to find a way to slow the pace of the game and pick their spots to run.

This might be one of the few matchups where the Magic face a team that is more athletic than them. The 76ers thrive on running the fast break and have the kind of point guard in Andre Miller that can control the pace of play. Bet that Philadelphia's strategy to eliminate the effectiveness of presumptive Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard is to beat him down the court on a foot race.

By slowing these games down and picking the spots in which the team runs, Orlando can keep Philadelphia on the perimeter. It is no secret the 76ers struggle from beyond the arc -- and really from outside the paint. They do not really have anyone to challenge Howard inside offensively so he is going to be roaming the pain and cleaning up any perimeter breakdowns.

This is not saying Orlando could not win a fast game against Philadelphia. But I think the Magic need to always be in control of the pace of the game in order to keep the 76ers at a distance.

-Survive and advance: TNT's motto for the NBA Playoffs is: "Win or Go Home." That might be true for some of the lower seeded teams. But for teams with their eye on the prize, each round is more: "Survive and Advance."

That is what Orlando must do. They must get in and out of this series as quickly as possible and with as little incidence as possible. I said that it was a blessing to get such a late series start. It will afford Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu some much needed rest for their injuries.

But it is clear that neither is going to be 100 percent for this series. That may not matter now, but in the next round it will. That is why the Magic must be sure to get out of this series quickly and prepare for the wars ahead.

Stan Van Gundy plays his starters a lot of minutes. And that is only going to increase with the stakes raised. The only way to be sure they still are not sore entering the conference semifinals is to make sure they do not have to battle physically in this round.

Luckily, Philadelphia is not a very physical team and Orlando should be able to impose its will. But the longer the series goes, the better chance something catastrophic could happen.

Think Dwight Howard's chest injury last year. Even those little injuries build up. You would not want something like that happening in this series and not have the time to rest it before the next.

Matchup to Watch: I think the most intriguing matchup is going to be at the point guard position. Andre Miller has had some solid games against Orlando and is probably the better point guard at this point in the season (remember at the trade deadline the rumors that the Magic were interested?).

Rafer Alston has don more than adequately to replace Jameer Nelson. But he is a fast-paced guy and he is going to have a lot of responsibilities this series. If the Magic can effectively take Miller out of the game, they should win.

The offense does not run through Miller, per se. But with a fast break team, taking out the point guard is like cutting the head off a snake. It just wriggles around for a little while before it dies.

That is Alston's responsibility. The Magic are a veteran team to run their offense, but the concern has to be if Alston gets drawn into a running game. Alston wants to pick up the pace offensively. That is what he is good at. But he has to be smart when he does it (as I mentioned above). Philadelphia wants to run.

Alston has to be willing to slow the pace down and grind it out. The Magic are a much better team than the Sixers if they do that.

-Prediction: In the end, I think the Magic know exactly what they have to do to win this series. They are the better team all around and they have the dominating force inside that the Sixers do not have. Howard, I think, is going to have another big series and that will prove to be the difference.

Philadelphia likes to run. But Orlando is the type of team that knows how to control the pace of the game and really mix up how it plays. The Sixers are still relatively young and I do not think they can hit enough jumpers to make up for the fact they will be contending with Howard all series in the paint.

I see one game where Howard gets in foul trouble and Philadelphia is able to go out and attack all out in the paint. But even then, I think Orlando can keep up. I have Magic in five and moving on to the second round.