You just can't expect a team to lose its starting point guard (Jameer Nelson) in early February, import another (Rafer Alston) in mid February and go 12-2 in March.

You can't expect it to be down 3-2 in the conference semifinals and come back to win on the road, not after it was down 2-1 in the first round of the playoffs and came back to win that series, too. You can't expect it to beat No. 1 seed Cleveland in the conference final, not when everyone is certain this is finally LeBron James' season.

And you certainly can't expect the Magic to come from behind and beat the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

Can you?

"I think even before this series, but certainly now ... our players have earned respect," coach Stan Van Gundy said. "You can't do what we've done, you can't be at this level, you can't bounce back as many times as we have, you can't lose an All-Star at midseason and bounce back, you can't do all those things if you don't have great character, resilience, not to mention talent, on your team.

"So to me, anyway, it's not about proving any of those things now. It's about trying to win a championship. And that's it. That's the only thing on my mind."

The NBA has had its share of postseason upsets through the years, but for the most part, great teams almost always win. This is why the NBA has more repeat winners and dynasties than the NFL and major-league baseball.

In the past 20 years, the title of NBA champion has been spread among seven franchises. By comparison, the NFL has had 12 different champions. Baseball has had 13, and that doesn't include the 1994 season, when no World Series was held.

The point is that it is rare when a great NBA team is bounced out of the playoffs.

Teams that win 65 or more games during the regular season almost always win the NBA title. Before this season, 13 teams had won at least 65 games, and 11 went on to be crowned champion.

That means only two underdogs have bounced a 65-win team: the 2007 Golden State Warriors and the 1973 New York Knicks.

And now, here comes the Magic .

Orlando has already beaten the 66-win Cavaliers, and it is making the 65-win Lakers sweat. Should Orlando somehow come back to win this series, it would be arguably the hardest path to the championship in league history.

"We've come a long way, and our goal is to win the championship," Howard said after Game 3. "We're going to continue to fight. All I told my teammates is, you've got to continue to believe."

This is not meant to set up a moral victory for Orlando in the event of defeat. It is simply an attempt at perspective. An attempt to show how rare it is to overcome NBA teams with the pedigree of the '08-09 Lakers and Cavaliers.

The silly part of Orlando's success is the improbability of it all. This is a franchise that had won one playoff series in the previous 12 seasons. A franchise built around a 23-year-old center. A franchise with a coach more ridiculed than revered.

That is not a franchise you would expect to make LeBron James pout one week and Kobe Bryant look frustrated the next.

"It's been tough for us, but nothing in life is easy," Howard said.

"If we continue to play like we played (in Game 3) and understand that it's going to get harder, then, at the end of the series, we should have a trophy."

A few weeks ago, that would have sounded like silly talk.

By now, we know better.

It's never a good idea to underestimate this Magic team.

John Romano can be reached at romano@sptimes.com