Did a Bad Attitude Harm the Orlando Magic in Game 1 against the Boston Celtics?

An emerging consensus in the blogosphere today is that the Orlando Magic need to change their offensive approach a bit if they hope to keep pace with the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Some recent updates from Tania Ganguli also indicate their attitude heading into the series let them down, and that they have adjusted it as well.

Here's the money quote from Matt Barnes (emphasis mine):

"Being 8-0 in the playoffs – I can’t speak for everyone – but we may have been feeling ourselves too much," Matt Barnes said. "They kicked our (butts) last night, and now we have to get back to work.’’

And then there's this from Dwight Howard, who had a horrid day on the offensive end. Via Ganguli's Twitter:

Dwight Howard said he took a "let me show people what I can do" mentality vs [Kendrick] Perkins since we always talk about how good Perkins is vs him

Howard said that caused him to get into a physical fight with Perkins, which he said is just what Perkins wants.

If these self-diagnoses are true, then Orlando indeed had the wrong mindset before taking the court yesterday. That's the bad news. The goods news is that there's still time to shape up, both mentally and on the court, in time to stem the tide in this series.

Take them to task if you'd like. Just don't use the poor performance as an excuse to push some bogus narrative about the Magic needing an "enforcer," as one major basketball publication has tried to do today.