Game Thread | Game #4 | Magic @ Cavs | Oct. 26, 2022

Individual stats:

Starters:
Wade 12-3-0 with a steal in 30 minutes. Lots of minutes and good production for the 5th option.
Mobley 22-3-3 with a steal and a block in 34 minutes. 9-15 fg
Allen 18-16-1 with a steal and a block in 30 minutes. 7-11 fg
LeVert 10-2-6 with a steal in 33 minutes. Poor shooting
Mitchell 14-4-8 with 2 steals in 37 minutes Poor shooting

Our bigs stepped up for the guards. They both looked like last year's bigs. Then there's the bench.

Bench: 27-15-7 in 31 minutes
Love 4-7-4 in 19 minutes Poor shooting.
Osman 14-7-3 with a block in 31 minutes. Great game. Only 1-5 from 3 and you didn't notice it.
Neto 7-0-0 in 14 minutes but he harassed their guards and drew at least 3 fouls.
Okoro 2-1-0 in 11 minutes

This mostly went how I thought it would. I figured Orlando wouldn't let us just roll over them, and that Mitchell would come back down to Earth a bit (even the top players have their bad games here and there). I also figured we'd win, even when things were looking a bit frustrating around halftime with a slim lead. I still knew we're much deeper than them. Their two top young players, Banchero and Wagner, are very nice, but not enough to propel them to wins at this point.

Now, as for all the Mobley arguing...there's been a lot of posts on Mobley lately. Some of the crticism has been constructive, but not all. Tonight, I thought he played much better, especially in the second half. He had a number of good post scores and a few good defensive contests. He still really needs to improve his rebounding -- 3 boards in 34 minutes won't cut it. But as I mentioned in the Mobley thread, I'm not worried about him. Sophomore slumps happen, and his ankle might still be bothering him. But he'll probably get past this, and we can put the debates to rest.

I liked most of what LeVert provided even though his FG% was poor other than the 3 ball. He had some great straight-ahead, bounce passes, and a nice no-look to a nearby teammate. He also had some TOs, including an errant fling to Love. He doesn't have the full court vision/peripheral awareness of DG, but we knew that. He's showing more playmaking than I recall from him last season, though. And his defense has been quite good, including tonight.

Wade starting over Okoro was such a relief. He knocked down four triples and played good defense other than the two early shoulder/body fouls.

JA was a beast. 16 boards! Some nasty slams, too. Still my fav Cav after KLove.

But KLove was cold as ice tonight. He did get seven boards and four assists and a charge taken in 19 minutes, but 1-7 and 0-5 from 3 was painful.

Cedi had ALL the hustle again tonight. Loved it! 3 ball wasn't there tonight, but we needed his energy and some of his finishes at key points.

Neto was like a pesky Delly out there. Maybe he's a serviceable backup after all!

Mitchell, as I expected, looked exhausted out there...I really wasn't expecting another 30 point barrage. The man can only do so much with DG out. That dunk though...man that was nasty. He also quietly dished out eight assists, as a few posters pointed out. He and LeVert did what they could to include others even if they aren't true PGs like Darius.

Okoro still sucks. Nothing new here. No one should be surprised anymore. Very glad his role has been reduced.

All right, that's all I got.

4th game if they year, No Garland or Rubio. Mitchell with an off night shooting wise. LeVert can’t buy a bucket inside the 3P line.

And they still win in relatively easy fashion. They wound have against many other teams but game flow is different in every single match up. To day was the game they were playing, Orlando their only option as opponent.

Shit, Cedi even played the close out minutes without being Captain Insano.

Im actually pretty excited about this win even with p,entry of things to clean up and get better at.

Good game.

Caris +19. Leading starters again. Playing really good defense, contesting shots, playmaking, making catch and shoot 3s. He need to get his stamina up. You playing defense now.

Wade looked good. Made his 3s and contested shots.

Mitchell was off shooting but still contributed in other ways. 8 assist 1 TO. Played defense.

Mobley breasted. He read RCF at halftime. Looked really good being aggressive. I think Mobley had like 4/5 consecutive made Cavs buckets. Just getting easy dunks inside.

I love JA throwing those power dunks down.

Cedi is playing well. I love good Cedi

I like Neto.

I hope DG is not as swollen by Friday.

Bring on the Celtics!

It’s starting to feel Okoro is getting out of the rotation slowly.dude looks lost out there

Markky Markk lighting it up again.

Cedi, Caris, Raul, Dean.

Those guys made it a game when it was getting real ugly.

A WINE AND GOLD WINNER

The game highlights:

Great to see them win a game while playing so badly on offense. Mitchell, Love, and Cedi combined to go 2-for-17 from deep. That will probably never happen again this season. The Cavs also missed 9 free throws and blew several uncontested layups. They left a ton of points on the floor.

When Okoro came into the game everything immediately went to hell. He ended up being a -10 in 11 minutes and was the only Cavalier in the negative. Having a total non-scorer on the floor just threw everything off as the Cavs were basically playing 4-on-5. On the defensive end Okoro is just one guy and he's nothing special.

I wish Mobley and Allen would lose the wimpy little left-handed jump hook from 3-5 feet away. They miss every one. Pump fake and power the ball to the rim with both hands and either get blocked or draw the foul. Allen got the idea and started slamming down dunks instead of finessing it.

Defense never goes into a slump and the Cavs won this one mostly with defense. The Magic shot 25% on 3's and had 16 turnovers. Some were unforced but the Cavs' defense was pretty good throughout. Neto did a great job of forcing turnovers.

Dean Wade was 4-for-7 on 3's - all from the corner. That was his weakness last year but it's obvious he's been working hard on it. He also played good D.

Mitchell was 5-for-19 but kicked in 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals. Jarrett Allen had a great game which was badly needed with Garland out and the shooters off target. He saved the Cavs' bacon along with Cedi who had an impressive 14/7/3 line off the bench.

LeVert was only 3-for-12 but was a +20 in 33 minutes. He had some beautiful assists.

It's great to win when one All-Star guard is out and the other is off his game.

Tlyons said:

Caris with more good D

Click to expand...

@KevinLoveFan is this true?

CleveRocks said:

Might be a good night to get Dikdik some burn

Click to expand...

Thanks to your mom, my Dikdik already burns.

Real Deal said:

LeVert is a +16.

Click to expand...

He was doing all the little things today, especially on D.

I take back anything i said about not starting LeVert at the 3, we might have to extend him.