Good defensive effort in holding Orlando to 93 points on 39% shooting after they scored 127 and 128 in their last two games. They did a better job on Fournier after he got 30 on them in the last game. Tonight he was 6-for-15 for 18 points. They also held Bamba to one 3-pointer after he knocked down five of them last week.
Unfortunately, without Love the offense was bad. The Cavs only scored 87 as they were bothered by the Magic's length. The Magic blocked nine Cavs' shots and had 10 steals. The Cavs had a chance to steal a win but Sexton got back-to-back layups blocked and then Nance heaved a pass out of bounds. Sexton had some blow-by layups earlier in the game and ended up with 19 points, so I don't blame him for thinking he could get the bucket, but in crunch time the Magic blocked his shots.
The Cavs' starters did a nice job; Thompson was -2 but all the other starters were between +2 and +10. The Magic starters were all between 0 and -11 when they were on the court. Our starters beat their starters. The benches were the opposite as the Magic's four bench players were all between +8 and +16 while the Cavs' bench was between -6 and -15. Clarkson had an unusually bad game at the wrong time, going 3-for-11 with a -15 in only 21 minutes. McKinnie was awful to start the second quarter as the Cavs were outscored by 10 points in his 6 minutes of action. He got pushed around and abused on defense and missed a couple of open 3's. Beilein didn't put him in after intermission.
The Cavs needed to shoot better on 3's as they were 10-for-34. At least Delly finally made one. When you don't have a lot of size you need to be able to knock down 3's.
Our young guard combo of Sexton and Garland combined for two assists in 60 minutes. That's ridiculous. They both dribble too much. Delly had four assists in only 14 minutes.
Cedi had a nice all-around game with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. His defense has improved dramatically. Larry Nance, Jr, on the other hand, was 2-for-10 from the field starting for Love. I feel bad for him - he has no touch on his shots around the rim. If he can't dunk it's not going in.
Henson had 3 of the Cavs' 7 blocks and chipped in 5 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists in only 14 minutes. Tristan Thompson had 5 assists and 3 steals in a good effort. KPJ made a few more "Wow" plays.
I never complain about the refs but I thought the Cavs were getting screwed all night long.
Now it's on to the meat grinder. Five of the next six games are against teams that have won more than twice as many as they lost, starting with Philly tomorrow. We play a back-to-back while traveling; they're resting tonight. Then Boston on Monday followed by Houston. I don't know when we'll see another win.