In the Eastern Conference, the postseason hasn’t exactly gone according to script. But the mission remains the same for the Cavaliers.

After Orlando’s convincing Game 7 win on Sunday night in Beantown, the Wine and Gold won’t get to avenge last year’s playoff loss to the Champs, and they take on their second straight foe that they’ve never faced in the postseason.

What they did draw was a team that has beaten Cleveland on eight of the last 11 occasions, including two of three this year. The last time the Cavaliers faced Orlando, they were sent packing with their worst loss of the season, a 116-87 drubbing on April 3 in the Magic Kingdom.

It’s pretty fair to say that the Magic have truly had the Cavaliers’ number over the past few years. Stan Van Gundy’s club even swept the Wine and Gold out of the Far East, taking both preseason exhibition games in Shanghai and Macao back in 2007.

But in any postseason, it’s a matter of who’s-hot-when and the Cavaliers haven’t lost a meaningful ballgame game since, well, since that 116-87 drubbing on April 3 in the Magic Kingdom. (Cleveland ran off their next five, rested their starters in the double-overtime loss in the final game of the season, and rumbled through the first eight games of the playoffs.)

That early-April loss to Orlando followed an equally frustrating defeat the night before in Washington. And it seemed to ignite the Cavaliers through the rest of the season. Players and coaches were visibly rattled by the back-to-back losses.

“It’s not about the games you lose; it’s about how you lose,” lamented LeBron, who still led Cleveland with 26 points despite not playing the fourth quarter of that game. “And the last two games aren’t how we play the game of basketball.”

“You’re going to lose,” added Mike Brown. “You’re going to lose two, three, maybe four games in a row, but there’s a way that you lose games. Tonight we should be embarrassed with the way that we played.”

The Cavaliers, who had already hit a new gear after the All-Star Break, were a different team from that point forward.

While both teams play completely different styles of basketball, they both rely on their defense when push comes to shove. Orlando finished with the third-best defensive scoring mark in the East – behind Cleveland and Boston. They have the league’s Defensive Player of the Year; the Cavaliers have the runner-up.

Both squad flourish on the road – locked in a three-way tie (with Boston) behind the Lakers at 27-14.

LeBron James erupted against the Magic in the only home contest against Orlando this year – going off for 43 points, 12 boards and eight assists. Mo Williams chipped in with 21 points as the Cavaliers won a 97-93 St. Patrick’s Day thriller at The Q. With that win, the Cavaliers distanced themselves over Orlando for the top spot in the East – a homecourt advantage that could loom large in the coming days.

LeBron did not erupt in either game in Orlando. In an 11-point loss on January 29, LeBron notched 23 points, but he was only 10-of-27 from the floor to get there. Wally Szczerbiak blew up in the first half, notching 14 points in 5:34, but he only had two points the rest of the way and the Wine and Gold – still without and injured Zydrunas Ilgauskas – had a four-game streak snapped.

Those losses and the win in Cleveland are all ancient history now. In 2007, the Cavaliers lost three of four to the Pistons before knocking them out to reach the NBA Finals. When they got there, they met a San Antonio Spurs team they’d swept that season.

This is the NBA’s “second season” and past is not a prelude. The Cavaliers will hit the practice court on Monday afternoon with one goal in mind – and go one day, one game at time to reach it.