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2023-24 Season | Playoff series #1 | Cavaliers vs. Magic |

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Way too soon to be talking about the Celtics. The Magic are 29-12 at home and as Jarrett Allen said, "We know when we go to their place, they are going to be a completely different team."

This could go seven games and although the last one will be in Cleveland, anything can happen in one game.

The Cavs need to reduce their turnovers and make more open 3's if they are going to win in Orlando.

Surprisingly, their biggest win over the Magic was in Orlando in January by a 126-99 score. Garland, Mobley, and LeVert were out. The Cavs were on fire, shooting 56% overall and 53% on 3's. Sam Merrill was 8-for-13 on 3's and Dean Wade was 3-for-3. This was during that time when Garland and Mobley were out for 6-7 weeks so the Cavs went to Mitchell at point guard, Allen at center, and three shooters on the wings. They went 18-2 at one point, but they had Dean Wade.

The Cavs need to get Mitchell, Strus, and Niang hitting a higher percentage of their open 3's. Strus and Niang are an astonishing 2-for-18 on 3's. Mitchell is 5-for-18. It's scary to think how good the Cavs could be if these three guys start hitting 3's at their regular season averages. The three of them are under 20% from deep - incredible.

As well as Allen and Mobley have been playing the Cavs would be dominating if they cut their turnovers down from 17 and 15 to around 12 and raised their 3-point percentage from 29% to around 35%.

Mitchell is right - the Cavs have some things they need to clean up if they're going to win one of these games in Orlando.
 
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With how up and down this team has been all season i don't think it would be a hot take at all to see us lose both in Orlando. Glad we took care of home but now we're really gonna see if those lights have dimmed a bit. As we all know, a series really starts when the road team wins one . . .
 
Pierre Pan said:
Darius Garland still drives me crazy … when he dribbles into traffic and doesn’t seem to have a clue where he wants to pass the ball. He’s averaging 6.0 assists compared to 4.5 turnovers, not a good ratio. But in a series where few players on either team are shooting well, Garland is a 50% from the field and 47% on 3-pointers, averaging 14.5 points. He has made several key 3-point shots in both games when Cleveland’s offense was stalled.
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Too often, he penetrates for the sake of penetrating against a set defense as if something good should happen simply because you get closer to the basket. Even if he doesn't have a path to the basket itself or an open shot. So he dribbles in, can't go anywhere, and then just circles around and dribbles back out. Waste of a good 8 seconds or so.

He doesn't really even create that many good inside-out looks for others because his penetrations aren't sufficiently dangerous to collapse the rest of the defense, or he just can't find a passing lane out.

Not saying he's not a good player, but that's the biggest flaw I can see in his offensive game. Just reduce the number of pointless drives inside against set defenses.
 
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The Human Q-Tip said:
Too often, he penetrates for the sake of penetrating against a set defense as if something good should happen simply because you get closer to the basket. Even if he doesn't have a path to the basket itself or an open shot. So he dribbles in, can't go anywhere, and then just circles around and dribbles back out. Waste of a good 8 seconds or so.

He doesn't really even create that many good inside-out looks for others because his penetrations aren't sufficiently dangerous to collapse the rest of the defense, or he just can't find a passing lane out.

Not saying he's not a good player, but that's the biggest flaw I can see in his offensive game. Just reduce the number of pointless drives inside against set defenses.
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As short as he is he needs space to get off a 3-pointer, so if the defender is close he has no choice other than to penetrate. I think it's great when he blows by his man and gets into the paint. Ideally he forces the opposing big to defend him and finishes with a lob to our big.

Another option if the opposing big sags off to stop the lob is for Darius to shoot his one-legged floater. I'd like to see him do that more.

If he gets too close the opposing center can both block his floater and defend the lob. In that case Darius needs to just dribble out and start over. He gets in trouble when he either picks up his dribble and is stuck in the lane in traffic or jumps with no shot available and nobody to pass to.

Either lob to a big, shoot the floater from 10 feet if the lob is defended, or dribble out. Don't pick up the dribble in the paint and don't leave your feet without knowing what you're going to do.
 
From The Athletic:

Defense is wonderful, particularly in the postseason. But I once had a wise old NBA executive tell me elite shooting and average defense will beat elite defense and terrible shooting almost every time in the playoffs. The Cavs were thin on the bench and full of terrible shooters at this point last year, and their playoff run lasted all of five games. The Cavs were relying on non-shooters like Isaac Okoro, Lamar Stevens and Cedi Osman while watching Danny Green drag one leg up and down the floor in their series against the Knicks.

The Magic are a bit deeper, yet still full of terrible shooters. Orlando is shooting less than 24 percent from 3-point range through two games in this series....The Magic are 11-for-44 in this series on shots the league considers “wide open,” meaning there isn’t a defender within 6 feet.

(Which tells me we aren't beating the Magic, they are beating themselves.)

Of course, those numbers should improve a bit when the Magic return home. They’d better. Since the league began tracking such data with the 2013-14 season, only one franchise has ever shot worse than 30 percent on “wide-open” 3s for an entire postseason...

(The Magic will hit more open shots at home which means the Cavs need to improve their shooting as well).

Here’s the dirty little secret about the Cavs in this series: They really aren’t playing all that well despite being up 2-0. They’re turning the ball over far too much — their 16.5 turnovers per game thus far was the worst mark of any team in the postseason entering Tuesday’s games — and they aren’t shooting it much better than Orlando. Yet they’re in complete command of the series.

(Thanks to great defense plus bad shooting by the Magic).

As for the Cavs, it can be a sign of optimism that, hey, they’re two wins from the second round despite not playing anywhere close to their best basketball. Or it can be a stark reminder of how far they still have to go to challenge a veteran, playoff-tested team like the Celtics in the second round provided they get there.

(I'm very sure the Celtics won't miss 75% of their "wide open" shots).

Mitchell is shooting 70 percent and averaging 12 points in the first quarters of this series.

(Nice, but I'd like to see a little more in the last three quarters, specifically fewer turnovers and fewer missed 3's).

This could be an important series for Okoro’s future. I spoke to a couple of opposing NBA coaches throughout the season on how they’d guard the Cavs in a playoff series. They were both in agreement: Shrink the floor and force Okoro to make shots similar to how the Knicks guarded him last year...

It’s evident by how the Magic are guarding him that they’re fine letting Okoro shoot despite his improvements. It’s clear he has more confidence in this series than he did last year against the Knicks.

“I’m not allowing misses to affect my next shot,” he said. “If a team leaves me open, they leave me open. Take every shot with confidence. I’ve put in a lot of work throughout the summer, throughout the season. I feel like I’ve shown I can shoot the ball. If teams are still willing to leave me open, just make them pay for it.”

The Magic aren’t that far off from making this a series. Some of those shots that didn’t fall on the road could fall at home. The favorable crowd will help, too. Nobody will confuse Orlando for Madison Square Garden, but it will be interesting to see if the Cavs learned anything from playing on the road (and losing twice) last year in the playoffs. We’ll soon find out.
 
Wham with the Right Hand said:
From The Athletic:

Defense is wonderful, particularly in the postseason. But I once had a wise old NBA executive tell me elite shooting and average defense will beat elite defense and terrible shooting almost every time in the playoffs. The Cavs were thin on the bench and full of terrible shooters at this point last year, and their playoff run lasted all of five games. The Cavs were relying on non-shooters like Isaac Okoro, Lamar Stevens and Cedi Osman while watching Danny Green drag one leg up and down the floor in their series against the Knicks.

The Magic are a bit deeper, yet still full of terrible shooters. Orlando is shooting less than 24 percent from 3-point range through two games in this series....The Magic are 11-for-44 in this series on shots the league considers “wide open,” meaning there isn’t a defender within 6 feet.

(Which tells me we aren't beating the Magic, they are beating themselves.)

Of course, those numbers should improve a bit when the Magic return home. They’d better. Since the league began tracking such data with the 2013-14 season, only one franchise has ever shot worse than 30 percent on “wide-open” 3s for an entire postseason...

(The Magic will hit more open shots at home which means the Cavs need to improve their shooting as well).

Here’s the dirty little secret about the Cavs in this series: They really aren’t playing all that well despite being up 2-0. They’re turning the ball over far too much — their 16.5 turnovers per game thus far was the worst mark of any team in the postseason entering Tuesday’s games — and they aren’t shooting it much better than Orlando. Yet they’re in complete command of the series.

(Thanks to great defense plus bad shooting by the Magic).

As for the Cavs, it can be a sign of optimism that, hey, they’re two wins from the second round despite not playing anywhere close to their best basketball. Or it can be a stark reminder of how far they still have to go to challenge a veteran, playoff-tested team like the Celtics in the second round provided they get there.

(I'm very sure the Celtics won't miss 75% of their "wide open" shots).

Mitchell is shooting 70 percent and averaging 12 points in the first quarters of this series.

(Nice, but I'd like to see a little more in the last three quarters, specifically fewer turnovers and fewer missed 3's).

This could be an important series for Okoro’s future. I spoke to a couple of opposing NBA coaches throughout the season on how they’d guard the Cavs in a playoff series. They were both in agreement: Shrink the floor and force Okoro to make shots similar to how the Knicks guarded him last year...

It’s evident by how the Magic are guarding him that they’re fine letting Okoro shoot despite his improvements. It’s clear he has more confidence in this series than he did last year against the Knicks.

“I’m not allowing misses to affect my next shot,” he said. “If a team leaves me open, they leave me open. Take every shot with confidence. I’ve put in a lot of work throughout the summer, throughout the season. I feel like I’ve shown I can shoot the ball. If teams are still willing to leave me open, just make them pay for it.”

The Magic aren’t that far off from making this a series. Some of those shots that didn’t fall on the road could fall at home. The favorable crowd will help, too. Nobody will confuse Orlando for Madison Square Garden, but it will be interesting to see if the Cavs learned anything from playing on the road (and losing twice) last year in the playoffs. We’ll soon find out.
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I strongly disagree with the statement that the Cavs aren't playing well. They aren't shooting well. But their overall play has been phenomenol. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley are playing better right now than any other big man tandem in the league. As a team, they're moving the ball well and playing stifling defense. Shooting is hit or miss. And they've missed in two consecutive games, yet still won comfortably both times.

When the shots start failling (Niang is not an 0-8 three point shooter, for example) they're gonna blow the Magic out.
 
Peacedog said:
I strongly disagree with the statement that the Cavs aren't playing well. They aren't shooting well. But their overall play has been phenomenol. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley are playing better right now than any other big man tandem in the league. As a team, they're moving the ball well and playing stifling defense. Shooting is hit or miss. And they've missed in two consecutive games, yet still won comfortably both times.

When the shots start failling (Niang is not an 0-8 three point shooter, for example) they're gonna blow the Magic out.
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Yes, their process has been good. Execution needs improvement, but I have been very happy with the decisionmaking
 
Peacedog said:
I strongly disagree with the statement that the Cavs aren't playing well. They aren't shooting well. But their overall play has been phenomenol. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley are playing better right now than any other big man tandem in the league. As a team, they're moving the ball well and playing stifling defense. Shooting is hit or miss. And they've missed in two consecutive games, yet still won comfortably both times.

When the shots start failling (Niang is not an 0-8 three point shooter, for example) they're gonna blow the Magic out.
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Yeah I don’t buy that either. We’re murdering them on the boards. They’re taking outside shots because we’re defending the paint and daring them to shoot. I also don’t expect Niang to continue 0/8 on threes. We also have by far the best player - in fact, I’d say we have the two best players (Allen > Paolo). Our free throw shooting has also been below our season average.

Having said all that I do expect Orlando to come out very strong from the jump. We must emphasize coming out strong on the defensive side of the ball and NFSS. Blunt their offense and we’ll be fine. Don‘t force passes!
 
2 For The Brew said:
Yeah I don’t buy that either. We’re murdering them on the boards. They’re taking outside shots because we’re defending the paint and daring them to shoot. I also don’t expect Niang to continue 0/8 on threes. We also have by far the best player - in fact, I’d say we have the two best players (Allen > Paolo). Our free throw shooting has also been below our season average.

Having said all that I do expect Orlando to come out very strong from the jump. We must emphasize coming out strong on the defensive side of the ball and NFSS. Blunt their offense and we’ll be fine. Don‘t force passes!
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Only caveat is id say the three best players (Evan > Franz > Paolo)
 
I'd say the Cavs have played great in some areas (defense, rebounding both offensive and defensive) and poorly in other areas (3-point shooting, turnovers, free throw shooting). Overall they've been just OK. The Magic have missed 33 out of 44 wide open shots and that might be the biggest factor in the series so far.

If that continues, great, we win. If they start hitting more of those shots then the Cavs will need to up their game. That means better 3-point shooting (29% won't cut it), better free throw shooting (they missed 11 last game - good thing it wasn't a close one), and reducing turnovers (16 per game so far).
 
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