It's not talent. Don't be fooled. Orlando is really the one team in the league who is the anti-cavs. Mike Brown's defense just doesn't work against them. It's a great defense, and great team. But Orlando just matches up really well against Cleveland. Sure, they had a bit of home cooking from the refs. But that wasn't a significant part of the game. Orlando is a tough match up for the Cavs no matter what. When they're allowed some leeway on their (possibly moving) screens and on defense, Cleveland can't touch them. Series isn't over yet, but it's going to take some great games from some of the Cavs players not named LeBron.
Exactly. Nice rational post. I feared this team and this series for a long long time. I've watched every Orlando and Cavs game all season long, and many know why that is.
But. you really can't put a team together any more ideally to attack the Cavaliers then the way their team is comprised any better than what this Orlando team is.
We are a better team overall agaist the entire league, but against this team, or maybe even the Houston Rockets when healthy...this team just has major matchup issues that we have no solid answers tovon our roster.
Now, given all that ...we could win this series if we had Mo, Z, and Delonte being assertive offensivley like they were all season long, until the playoffs ...and playing the type defense they exhibited for the better part of the regular season...but, they aren't, and haven't all playoff long, really.
This is Mo's first reall taste of what the playoffs is all about. I can understand that he may be amped a little too tight and he'll benefit from this first exposure from this point on in his career.
But, Z shows aginst teams like Houston, Orlando, and any team with strong bigs that he's got the lethal combo of slow and weak.
I'll say it... the referees have been brutally bad. It's sad that thev league has to be blemished every playoff season by the ineptness of the officiating.
But, this isn't new and it's not just a conspiracy against Cleveland. They are bad EVERYWHERE. All I can say is what Jim Chones told me over and over ...you gotta tell Andy and others on the team to keep playing and shut up, and play the game.
Orlando is too tough a team to get into feeling like you have to take on two opponents.
Andy has been extrmely disspointing this season with his inability to play through the calls and just stop the non stop whining and complaining and just start playing basketball. He's getting completely outplayed everywhere on the court this series, and has been the biggest downside player on our team this series.