Cavaliers Preview Game #8: Cavs at Magic
Cleveland Cavaliers (4-3) vs
Orlando Magic (6-2)
Amaway Arena, Orlando, FL
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
8:00 PM EST
ESPN/WTAM
Get ready to continue the tour of misery portion of the 2009-10 schedule tonight. After a nice and much needed 4 day break, Cavaliers fans will pick up right where they left off. After being subjected to ESPN’s heavy handed approach to the proliferation of LeBron to New York innuendo last Friday, tonight we get to relive one of the most painful sports series we have ever been subjected to in Cleveland. Speaking as a lifelong Cleveland sports fan, I’m not sure any series loss has hurt more than the Magic series last year. I have never felt more sure that a Cleveland team was destined to win a Championship than last years’ Cavs team. So yeah, that one hurt. A lot. Now, tonight, I fully expect ESPN to pounce on the opportunity to show highlights and bring it up as frequently as they can because, well, it’s ESPN and beating storylines and talking points into the ground is what they do best. So brace yourself. Beyond that, the struggling Cavaliers only have to play a team that, despite not having Rashard Lewis, Vince, Carter, and Ryan Anderson for parts of this season still has been able to score points at will and is off to great 6-2 start. It could be a long night for the Cavaliers in Orlando.
Projected Starting Lineups
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-G Mo Williams (15.7 ppg, 4.0 apg, 0.7 spg, 13.88 PER)
-G Anthony Parker (9.1 ppg, 2.3 apg, .560 3P%, 8.92 PER)
-F LeBron James (26.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 8.0 apg, 29.41 PER)
-F JJ Hickson (1.6 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 0.0 bpg, –0.60 PER)
-C Shaquille O’Neal (11.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.7 bpg, 17.34 PER)
Key Reserves: Anderson Varejao, Delonte West, Daniel Gibson, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Jamario Moon
Injuries: Leon Powe (out)
Orlando Magic:
-G Jameer Nelson (13.3 ppg, 5.9 apg, 0.9 spg, 16.62 PER)
-G Vince Carter (15.3 ppg, 2.5 apg, .440 3P%, 20.70 PER)
-F Matt Barnes (9.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 2.5 apg, 11.76 PER)
-F Brandon Bass (9.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 0.7 bpg, 14.23 PER)
-C Dwight Howard (19.4 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 26.59 PER)
Key Reserves: JJ Redick, Mickael Pietrus, Jason Williams, Marcin Gortat
Injuries: Vince Carter (probable), Ryan Anderson (out), Rashard Lewis (out), Adonal Foyle (out)
Team Efficiency Stats
Cleveland Cavaliers:
-Off (94.4 ppg, 41.9 rpg, .449 FG%, 21.3 apg, 14.4 TOpg, Eff-101.6, Rank-19)
-Def (89.9 ppg, 41.1 rpg, .427 FG%, Eff-96.1, Rank-5)
Orlando Magic:
-Off (102.4 ppg, 39.4 rpg, .463 FG%, 21.4 apg, 13.8 TOpg, Eff-109.4, Rank-5)
-Def (97.3 ppg, 39.6 rpg, .471 FG%, Eff-104.3, Rank-15)
Previous Matchups
None
Future Matchups
- Thu, Feb 11 at Cleveland
- Sun, Feb 21 at Orlando
- Sun, Apr 11 at Cleveland
Game Notes
As a basketball fan, this is one of those games that should be superb to follow. Why? Because this a game where the two teams match up in a way that we will showcase strength against strength and weakness against weakness. The Cavaliers have quietly found their rhythm on defense again and have found themselves back in the top 5 in the NBA in that category. For Orlando, their offense is their bread and butter. They showcase one of the most efficient offenses in the NBA and they really strive to put pressure on teams who do a lot of switching on defense.
Conversely, while the Cavaliers offensive troubles have been well documented this year, the Magic have been a woeful defensive team in their own right. Orlando is letting opponents shoot 47.1% from the field (22nd in the NBA), 36.1% from three (16th), have given up the 6th most free throw attempts in the NBA, and is giving up 97.3 ppg (11th). This is quite a change from the team whose defense last year was the most underrated in the NBA all season long and was easily one of the 3 best defenses in the Association.
The Magic offense is a bit of an enigma. You might think they run a lot to initiate their offense, but they don’t. In fact, they are 22nd in the NBA in Pace Factor. When you look at their rankings in the Four Factors, they are 4th in eFG%, 11th in TOV%, 22nd in ORB%, and 14th in FT/FGA. Based on those rankings, it might be hard to understand why they are the 5th most efficient offense in the NBA. From those numbers, it looks like a team that just takes a lot of jump shots and happens to make a lot of them. However, only 63% of their shots are jump shots, which isn’t really that high. In fact, the Cavaliers take more jump shots than the Magic do. Instead, what the Magic do is use pick and roll combined with high amounts of ball movement to put pressure on the defenses by forcing them into uncomfortable positions. From their, the Magic do a great job of attacking and exploiting any weaknesses they find, primarily by getting good, easy looks inside for Dwight Howard.
The Cavaliers perimeter defense has really struggled this year, and for the Cavaliers to win, they need Delonte West to play a lot of minutes and they need him to play well. Without his defensive presence, the Magic will be able to pick apart the Cavs defense. Without Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu, LeBron is going to be free to roam a little more on defense and make a bigger impact, which should help. Inside, the big question will be whether Shaq still has what it takes to at least slow down Dwight Howard a little.
Quite frankly, the Cavaliers don’t defend that well on the road. They let teams shoot 2 percentage points higher on the road and they give up almost 6 more points per game on the road. This is a major reason the Cavaliers don’t look like a Championship team right now. Championship teams defend and play well on the road. The Cavaliers defended and played well on the road all last season. Offense can often times be a function of what the opposing defense is allowing, but defense is almost always pure desire. This is why defense wins championships, and this is why chemistry matters. The Cavaliers are getting closer, but they still haven’t put it all together yet. They need a signature win this season to announce their arrival to the party, and tonight would be a great place to start.
When the Cavaliers are on offense, we will see if they continue to try to work in some of the plays they tried against Chicago. They didn’t work in that game, but I believe they have potential to work once the team gets it figured out. Unfortunately, that’s what preseason is supposed to be for, but instead the Cavaliers are still working in new wrinkles 3 weeks into the season. This is a problem.
If we get specific on this offensive matchup with Orlando’s defense, the Cavaliers starting unit has big time chance of failing spectacularly against the Magic. With one guy with a negative PER in the starting lineup and a guard with a sub-10 PER in the starting lineup, the Cavaliers are making things awfully easy for a mediocre defense to defend. I’m not opposed to Hickson starting at all, but against Orlando, I’m not sure it allows the Cavaliers to apply the necessary pressure on Orlando’s defense. It will require both Shaq and LeBron to be effective early, and Mo Williams must avenge his performance against Orlando last year in the ECF. With Delonte, Z, and AV running the 2nd unit offense, there will be more opportunities to create matchup issues, but the starting unit has to beat Orlando straight up. With Hickson in the lineup, there is less room for creativity and errors.
Even though Pietrus is not expected to start, I would still expect to see him out there a lot tonight defending LeBron. Beyond Pietrus, Orlando doesn’t have the kind of big defender who can give LeBron fits without Rashard Lewis. Perhaps we will see Brandon Bass take his turn defending him, but I would anticipate LeBron being a tough assignment for Matt Barnes. For the Cavaliers to win this game, it’s imperative that LeBron be aggressive in this game and try to open up some easy baskets for his teammates. If LeBron continues to just hold on to the ball and dribble down the shot clock as he did in the playoffs last year, it will be a long night for Cleveland.
The Magic are a beatable team, but they require you to play your best to do so. After the way the Cavs played against Orlando last year, it’s time for them come out and make a statement. If they can come out and steal a big win in Orlando, it could go a long way to providing the spark they need to serve as a catalyst for the 2009-10 campaign. A loss tonight could be disastrous for Cleveland as they must go to Miami tomorrow and then play Utah on Saturday. A win, however, could help slingshot them through this tough part of the schedule and allow us to see the Championship caliber team we all thought we were getting this year. Only time will tell.
Vegas Line
Orlando –1.5
Over/Under 190.5
From The Outside Looking In
Third Quarter Collapse
Orlando Magic Daily
Howard The Dunk
The Puns Are Starting To Bore Me
Next Game For The Cavaliers
Thursday, November 12, 2009
8:00 PM EST
Cleveland Cavaliers at Miami Heat
TNT/WTAM
November 11th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Nationally televised? Great. Now we get to here a whole bunch of “LeBron to Orlando in 2010″ talk.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
‘97 series hurt much worse. As did the 2007 ALCS (I lost a hefty plain fare home) and we would have easily tapped the Rockies. If you thought the Cavs were going to cruise past the Magic, you were crazy. I knew they were the only team in the East we couldn’t beat. Consequently, I was heartbroken when they turned the tide against Philly. I was crestfallen when they fought past the Celtics. I predicted their losing in 6. But, yeah, it sucked.
BIG MONEY WAGER TONIGHT: Will Mike Brown defy all logic and order double-teams of Dwight without even giving Shaq a chance to guard him one-on-one despite the fact that Dwight still has a non-existent post game? 25 pts won’t hurt us. But 25 pts. and a bunch of 3s will. Stay at home. Deny the ball. No one needs to be double-teamed on the post in this league…NOBODY. Except maybe Duncan.
November 11th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
The game is also being shown locally on FSN and WUAB.
It still hurts for me too. And though I REALLY want a win in Orlando tonight, I’ll try to keep in mind what Windhorst said in his blog today: “Though this is a big-ticket game, it truly isn’t a fair test of what these two teams are. I caution you to not make the result a big deal, no matter what happens.”
[A quibble via the Sentinel link in today's WWW. In it, there was this: "It's rare this time of year that anybody gets a lot of days off," Van Gundy said. "We've had only six days off [since the start of the season] total. It’s rare.” I call shenanigans! The Magic have had SEVEN days off since the start of their season. I just counted it on my fingers! And for the record, the Cavs have only had one more day off since the start of their season, with eight off days. But, lets not let facts get in the way, Orlando. /SUPER SERIAL]
And the title of the last Magic blog linked is brilliant.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Yeah, I noticed it wasn’t just us being unable to defend the perimeter during the ORL series last season (ie: being too small in the back court).. it was when we tried to double team Dwight, then he kicked it out and BAM, another 3 pointer. And they were a bunch of SOLID 3-point shooters, indeed. Gotta give ‘em props for that.
makes me wonder if we’d just let Dwight go for 2 every time & not double-team him, he’d inevitably miss some, we’d get some rebounds, and those extra points we prevented from 3-pointers would determine some of those games….
…if you could follow that, heh
November 11th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
He’s not shooting more than 48% FG against Shaq with his current repetoire, He’s just not.
ALL OF LAST SEASON HOWARD AVG. only 12.4 attempts a game. Will someone put pressure on this guy to score?
50% at 12.4 attempts is 12-13 pts, + say 3-4 made FTs. He avg 20.6 pts last year. And you know half those shots were easy finishes created by other guys on his team.
MAKE HIM SCORE ON THE POST.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Hey, Magic, the Cartoon Channel called. They want their logo back.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
A few notes, kids.
One, Delonte West is inactive. No word on the details, but one could guess.
Two, LeBron has stated that he will no longer answer questions regarding next season. Says he “owes it to his team.”
November 11th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
The approach against the magic should absolutely be to make dwight howard beat you. The chances are he can’t. Even in game 1 when howard went off for like 17 in the first half, the Cavs still had a double digit lead. If mike brown stays out of his own way with his defensive schemes, the cavs can win…
November 11th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
@6 – That was lame. But really funny.
@7 – Not so funny + Thank God = eh
November 11th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Is there no live blog tonight? Or is this it?
November 11th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
@7 and every fan on the site, I don’t think we can count on Delonte this year for much. God bless him, but if he cannot commit fully to this team for legal or health reasons, then alternate plans need to be made. Ferry needs to plan for that. I am not screaming disaster because of that or anything, but all the same, I would expect some sort of move or moves before Dec. for this team.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
ESPN has Andy listed as day-to-day.
Why am I getting so stressed out about this game?
November 11th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Update on West: He is not even in Orlando. Missed team flight. Not good news.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Check that – he is in Orlando, just did not fly in with team. Could play in Miami tomorrow.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
I had a comment about the significance of the Shaq/Howard matchup but lost my wifi connection and now have to retype. What a beach.
This is the reason we brought Shaq in, to address Z’s weakness with defending strong centers. This is the matchup to watch tonight, and I would like to see Shaq strong offensively (20 pts or so) in order to make Howard work defensively, and hopefully weaken his o-game.
Alas though, the Delonte drama continues….
November 11th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
@2: A lot of people say that (that we’d have easily beaten the Rockies). I don’t see how anyone could be so sure of that, especially given the fact that the Indians have a bad track record against that team. Plus the same was popularly thought about us against the Marlins, and see what happened.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
@16, for one thing, we were the only team to beat Boston in the playoffs even a single game. At all. I think that’s a good reason to assume we could’ve, at the very least, beat the Rockies a couple games.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Also great job by Shaq so far. 2 quick fouls on Howard changes the game.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
They just have to take advantage of them – so far, Gortat’s been holding his own.
Varejao replaces Shaq instead of Z – interesting.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Great rotations by Brown. Good to see that Coach Bron…uh, I mean…Coach Brown is finally getting the message.
Mo looks great.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I am a big fan of homerism…and as such I totally appreciate a guy like Z. I have lived in places like Cincinnati, China, California, and everywhere in between. But MY TEAM(S) are always Browns/Cavs/Tribe….no matter what.
But back to Z: As much as we hometown fans always look for hometown discounts from pending free agents, regardless of the sport, and when we don’t get it we all get bent out of shape, and when they inevitably sign for major $$ outside of Cleveland, then I guess my question becomes, why would anybody in this town be SOO upset at trading Z for something more than he can offer on the court for this year and the nexts? I guess my point is that our hometown prized athletes’ loyalty to us has more to with money and how much they can make, whilst OUR loyalties SHOULD have more to do with winning. And if that means trading Z….then so be it. And considering his contract, I think it might/should happen.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
How does Hickson have a negative PER? Is that even possible? I mean, maybe if Derek Anderson played basketball…
November 11th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
mo is hitting ridiculous 3s
November 11th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I can’t take much more Van Gundy. Yacking without purpose
November 11th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Why are Z and Shaq on the floor together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 11th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Is Mike Brown serious right now?
Why is Hickson not in the game.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Wow, Z can stay with a guy outside the paint or in the paint…big surprise.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
can’t*
November 11th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
love playing dwight man to man…feels good…keep missing FTs
November 11th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Mo Williams > Lebron James
November 11th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
mo is gonna get 50 tonight if he keeps shooting like this
November 11th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Anyone else catch the other van Gundy’s ridiculousness for the night? Saying there shouldn’t be a foul limit?
November 11th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Which is more ridiculous: JVG’s no foul limit suggestion or Z having two 3 second violations in one quarter?
November 11th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
are they ever going to call howard for 3 seconds or only Z?
he was in the paint for 7 seconds on that last play.
ridiculous
November 11th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
these refs are so bad. for both sides. make up calls because dwight is bitching.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Worst officiating I have ever seen! The last 5 minutes of this half is the least!
November 11th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
BEAST!
November 11th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
This was truly the half of the flaming Mo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ojBVFBFME) (no homo)
November 11th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
….they look like a MUCH different team w/o Hedo….and we’re up by 15 @ half w/o Delonte…and Orlando just got crushed by OK City?! if that happens to the cavs the national media would be talkin about it for weeks.
go cavs!!!!
November 11th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
tom, the Magic are without Rashard Lewis. He’s a much bigger part of their team than Hot Sauce is to the Cavs. Their play looks much better though.
As I’ve said before, the Cavs are tough for a team with a true post player to beat. It’s the Bostons and Torontos with their tandem shooting bigs that hurt us. (Hopefully, Hickson will get some additional minutes and grow into a player that can help shore up that hole in our roster.)
November 11th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Do not, I repeat, DO NOT ATTEMPT THE A.C. Drinking Game with Great Lakes Christmas Ale!
November 11th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
What makes you vomit faster? Bridgecrosser’s game? or Lebron’s footwear?
November 11th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I know they don’t have Rashard, but NO ONE gave us the benefit of the doubt when we were without Z and Delonte last year due to injury (not from steroids). We lost to the Magic and LAkers without those 2 and people hammered us for it. We win this there shouldn’t be any excuses for the Magic either.
November 11th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Vomiting is for the weak.
November 11th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Time to get Mo off the floor.
November 11th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Howard legitimately should have fouled out in the 3rd period. His monster hack on LeBron and the push off that they called on Z. These refs are ridiculous.
And yes Van Douchey you and bad mustache sporting brother are both losers.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
smackdown.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
hiyoooooooooooooooooooooo
go cavs
November 11th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
What is Delonte talking about?
http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/62716/20091111/west_cryptic_in_comments_to_media/
Nice win tonight, let’s hope Delonte gets the help he needs!
November 11th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Why didn’t Shaq talk to reporters after the game?
November 12th, 2009 at 9:00 am
@ #41 Bridgecrosser
haha, i’ll keep that in mind
@ #49 Jason
uh… delonte’s writing childrens books for dr. seuss?