ORLANDO, Fla. — The Cleveland Cavaliers' biggest concern is that it looks and sounds awful. They just suffered the most lopsided loss in a playoff game in franchise history.
“The message in the locker room was, it doesn't matter if they win by 60 points or by one point. One win,” Donovan Mitchell rightly pointed out. “Even if you win by a difference of 20 points or more, you don't get two wins.”
The 121-83 loss to the Orlando Magic was a 38-point loss that broke a franchise playoff record that had stood for 16 years and one day, but that's no big deal for a reason. Three-point shooting is common in the NBA, and Game 4 of this first-round series is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m., so by bringing in the punt team early, the conditions were ripe for a crushing defeat.
The Cavs still lead this series, 2 wins and 1 loss. But there's a lot to worry about. In no particular order:
Orlando's changes worked.all of them
The Magic replaced Jonathan Isaac with Wendell Carter Jr. at center. They used Jalen Suggs as Mitchell's main defender, often putting two defenders at once on the Cavs' best player otherwise. Benching Isaac allowed him to cause more problems on both ends of the court, occasionally replacing him with Darius Garland.
Between Carter's physical presence in the lineup and the pressure the Magic put on Mitchell and Garland, Orlando had a tremendous amount of leverage to attack Cleveland's interior defense in ways that didn't seem impossible through two games. had.
“I could tell (Magic coach) Jamal Mosley had a great plan for this game,” Jarrett Allen said. His 15 points and 8 rebounds were good, but not enough. “There were times when I was just in the corner, and I was in the corner in the last game, but overall, I could see that the little differences added up to a big difference.”
If in the last 10 years of the Cavs era, if a star player was praising opposing coaches by name after a loss…well, I don't have to tell you how that was interpreted. We don't know if Allen was pushing coach J.B. Bickerstaff to make adjustments, and we don't know what the point of Allen being in the corner.
But Allen's account of what happened Thursday night was alarming.
“We felt like we were behind every move they made,” Allen said. “Whether it's someone driving to the rim, me standing in the paint or just rebounding the ball. We were just a little slow.”
The Magic grabbed 14 offensive rebounds for 22 points and crushed Cleveland, 51-32. They also outscored the Cavs in the paint for the first time this series. Carter had two points and five rebounds, but it was his presence — wide, strong, forcing board candidates out of the box — that seemed to matter.
For the first time in this series, the Cavs will have to make adjustments. The lineup will not change. The eight players Bickerstaff plays are those who will continue to play. Sam Merrill made three 3-3s on Thursday, but you could also say that Cleveland as a team can't make anything from deep, and both statements would be correct. However, all of Merrill's threes came in garbage time, and I don't think he wants to move away from Georges Niang, who is definitely struggling but has a lot of playoff experience.
“It starts with what we're talking about impacting wins and whether we're confident our players can accomplish that here on the road,” Bickerstaff said. “There's no doubt about it in my mind. We can do the little things that impact winning. Rebounding, 50-on-50 balls, physicality, strength, things like that that we're doing at home. All of that remains the same on the road. And it doesn't just depend on whether we can do it or not. And we expect to be better on Saturday.”
Brave and ugly, hurry up
There was a funny little story where the Cavs were leading 2-0 and ended up controlling the series without playing particularly well on offense.
I agree with that and wrote an article about how Max Strass and Niang contributed to the victory without a down shot.
On Thursday, the Magic made 13 threes and shot 51 percent from the field. It was the only time Orlando displayed anything resembling an NBA offense in this series. Paolo Banchero (31 points, 13-of-26 shooting) and Suggs (24 points, 9-of-11 shooting) were especially impressive.
The Cavs clearly didn't respond. They are now a team that can't shoot straight in this series.
Mitchell was 6-of-16 from the field. Garland, 2 out of 10. Strass, 2/6. Nian, it's really bad until the garbage time. As a team, the Cavs made 8 of 34 3-point shots. Strus and Niang made 3 of 24 3-pointers in the series. Mitchell made 6 of 24 shots.
“They're getting shots. It's not like they're not getting quality looks,” Bickerstaff said. “Again, I just have faith in them. And we'll continue to make those shots. They'll definitely do it. At the end of the day, it's about timing and rhythm and the ball… We're at our best when we're moving and we know when they're going to take shots. So I think that's an area where we can continue to improve… how we touch the paint, how we do it. How do we force them into a closeout? When the ball moves, you can see them getting their feet set and ready to take it down.”
Let's talk
Banchero backed off a Cavs defender and said the defender was too small after the shot went through the hoop.
Suggs, like Franz Wagner, was screaming on the Cleveland bench.
All in all, Magic seemed to have the following results. a lot Against a team that did well on the court Thursday, still. trail In this series.
Most, if not all, of the Magic's story has focused on Cleveland's bench, specifically Tristan Thompson and Marcus Morris, two playoff veterans who haven't played a role in this series so far. It seems like it was.
Will the Cavs regulars react to Banchero's antics, like throwing hand signals to Morris after a 3-point shot?
“Honestly, no one tells me anything,” Mitchell said. “Good to know.”
“I mean, it makes sense. They're at home and the audience is with them,” Evan Mobley said. “They started hitting knockdown shots and getting the crowd excited. So we had to be tough on them and come up with rebounds. And maybe their swagger won't be as strong the next game. Sho.”
Players say they love the trash talk in the playoffs. Both Mitchell and Banchero said it was fun.
“They talked a lot in Game 1 and Game 2, and I talked a lot tonight,” Banchero said. “But I have a lot of respect for both Morris and Tristan. Morris, he's one of the guys that gave me the job my rookie year. I've always respected him ever since. He's an older guy too, so he talks to me like an old man. But it's fun to come and go. I have a word for them, and they have a word for me. ”
Even though the Cavs took two big steps forward early in this series in an attempt to shake off the “soft” label they earned last year when they were pushed by the New York Knicks, they got one back on Thursday.
“We believe in them, we have confidence in them, so we expect our battle-tested players to come out and be ready to go,” Bickerstaff said.
The AthleticContributed by Josh Robbins.
Must read
(Photo of Evan Mobley and Franz Wagner: Mike Watters/USA Today)
