The Cavs and Magic played again in as many days and the script was the same: a tight game for most of the way but the home team pulled away in the second half. Despite some resistance by the away team, the home team held on for a double digit win.
With no Evan Mobley and Caris LeVert, this is really a game the Cavs needed at least one of two things to happen: Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland to both have good games, or the team shoot well from deep. As you may guess, neither happened.
Mitchell posted as quiet of a 22 point night as you can find, as he provided relatively little impact for most of the night. Mitchell struggled to find his jumper, as his point total was bolstered by free throws (8 for 9). He finished with only 3 assists, 3 rebounds and a -6.
The Cavs put up enough bricks tonight to build a nice mansion somewhere along the Cleveland lakeshore. They finished the night 9-40 and really didn’t look close at any point. They had several opportunities to close the lead with some well-timed threes and struggled to convert any of them. The Cavs sharpshooting additions, Max Strus and Georges Niang, were a combined 1-19 from the field, and 0-10 from 3.
The Cavs had three double digit scorers on the night: Darius Garland (36), Mitchell (22) and Tristan Thompson (10). That’s a hard way to win any ballgame.
Speaking of which, Garland had a fantastic night. Without Garland, I’m not sure where the Cavs would be. He had 36 points including 11-23 from the field, 3-9 from 3-point, and 11-12 from the line. He was incredibly persistent all night getting into the paint and finishing well around the rim. It was one of his best games this season at consistently creating disruption inside and being incredibly effective with finesse finishes.
Jarrett Allen was in foul trouble early and often. He picked up 2 1Q fouls, 3 first half fouls, picked up his 4th foul mere seconds into the 3Q, 5th foul minutes into the 4th and fouled out late in the 4th. Allen has really hit a slog of late with only 59 minutes in the last 3 games, 18 points and no blocks. He has picked up 27 rebounds in that time but for the most part has been a relative non-factor.
With Allen out, Thompson stepped in and stepped up. In a throwback game, he posted a double-double (10 points, 13 rebounds) in 29 minutes and threw in 2 blocks. Without Mobley, Thompson was the lone big behind Allen and made a noticeable impact as often the lone big on the floor. His rebounding was sorely needed and was opportunistic around the rim.
One area Allen could really learn from Thompson is how to take up space by using your body. Thompson is smaller than Allen, and likely has shorter arms, but Thompson feels like he takes up more space down low and makes opposing bigs feel him. A lot of that is positioning, and a lot of that is being physical. Bigs like Thompson often have to learn those skills early on as a survival skill whereas bigs like Allen, who grew up on size and athleticism advantage, can be susceptible to bigs who use their bodies well, and play smaller than they are. I hope Allen gets some film room time with Thompson, because the way he controls the paint is noticeable.
The game was relatively even most of the way with the Cavs winning the 1Q. However, the Magic responded with 23-11 runs to start the 2nd and 3rd quarters, respectively. The Cavs were able to close the 2Q with a 14-6 run to take a lead into half, however the same result did not happen in the 3Q. The Magic extended their lead going into the 4th.
It was almost role reversals from several days ago: The Cavs ability to get to the free-throw line (25-33 for the night) supplemented their lack of points in the paint (36). Whereas the Magic were able to keep pace at the line but pounded the Cavs inside to the tune of finishing a +20 on the night.
The Magic and Cavs both turned the ball over 14 times but the Magic were +15 in points off turnover.
Being down rotational players, JB Bickerstaff decided to give backcourt minutes to Sam Merrill. He responded in the first half going 2-3 from deep, but was relatively quiet in the second half.
As you can guess, this is another head scratching decision to not play CRAIG!. In a game where Mitchell and Garland played 39 and 37 minutes, the team struggled to find any sense of scoring outside of Garland, and struggled to find anything from deep, you would think a scoring, attack guard in CRAIG! would be the spark they needed in the 2H. If you guessed that, you would guess wrong (apparently).
Bickerstaff tipped his hand the other night when he said CRAIG! got minutes because foul trouble hit the backcourt. Forget the fact CRAIG! has earned backcourt minutes, and shouldn’t be the victim to game circumstances. The Cavs were searching for a spark in the 2H, a time when the Magic were pushing and the Cavs couldn’t get anything going outside of Garland. How CRAIG! didn’t get some minutes to find a spark is a question that needs to be asked.
Up next: We knew this would be a tough stretch for the Cavs, and it doesn’t get any easier now heading to Boston for two games in a row versus a team that hasn’t lost at home. They’ll take on Boston tomorrow at 7PM (ET) on the second night of a back-to-back.
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