Overview: With the Cavaliers unable to make a jump shot or defend without fouling, the league’s two best defensive teams engaged in an ugly struggle that ultimately saw the Magic prevail.
Bullets:
At least it was a return to the status quo. After playing the two games in Cleveland in the bizarro world: LeBron having a monster game and the Cavaliers losing, the Cavaliers unable to get stops, both teams scoring at will, Rashard and Hedo looking like Michael and Scottie, LeBron making a ridiculous three-point game-winner-the Cavs and Magic both played their games.
Dwight was loose inside but wasn’t the monster that he was in game 1, getting loks inside and hitting the occasional hook but mostly overpowering his way into the paint and getting fouled and making a decent proportion of his free throws.
The good news in this game: the diagnosis for why we lost is much easier for why we lost in game 1 and blew a huge lead in game 2.
It’s pretty simple, folks: you’re not going to beat the best defensive team in the league if you’re not going to be able to make any jumpers. And this team simply could not make a jumper. The team went 5-26 from three-point range, and you have to remember that this is a drive-and-kick team. Mo couldn’t get it going, and he still hasn’t been a force in these playoffs. LeBron couldn’t hit a jumper, missing easy looks and settling for tough ones all too often from the perimeter.
Only one field goal from Andy, who wasn’t making the good cuts, was comitting stupid turnovers offensively. And he kept himself off the floor with stupid foul after stupid foul on the defensive end. Z didn’t get established in the post and couldn’t hit a jumper. Delonte’s confidence came in spurts offensively and he comitted an uncharacteristic four turnovers. And 0 points from guards off the bench.
This team was flat-out miserable offensively. The only thing that came close to an offensive strategy that worked was having LeBron barrel to the basket, bounce into Orlando defenders, and draw what were frankly questionable foul calls, finishing with 41 points but needing 40 attempts to get it. That’s not going to get it done against a defense this good. The backcourt had 9 turnovers against 6 assists and 9 fouls against 10 field goals. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible. The team got outplayed tonight. In a way, it’s liberating.
Defensively, the team did made the adjustments it needed to and kept Hedo and Rashard from killing them, but allowed the Magic to get deep way too much and couldn’t stay disciplined on the perimeter, putting the Magic into the bonus early and often. The Magic shot 51 free throws in this game. I don’t remember arguing one foul with passion. And I remember shrugging my shoulders and laughing on quite a few of the calls that gave us our 35 free throws.
So the good news is that none of these problems are unsolveable. The bad news is that they’re the kind of problems that come from playing on the road. Role players missing shots and losing confidence offensively, role players getting frustrated and making stupid plays defensively. There’s a reason that 14 of this team’s 15 (legitimate) losses in the regular season came on the road, and those are pretty much the reasons.
But the Cavs already gave away a game at home, and nearly gave away two. So they need to break the staus quo at least once in this series if they want to go to the finals. They’ve got a chance on Tuesday. Hopefully they can right the ship, but the fact is this team has been outplayed in all three games. All they really want is the split of these two, and they’ve got more than a decent chance. But the problem with giving away games is that acceptable losses like this one just aren’t all that acceptable anymore.
I really like your opinion in this blog. I am a magic fan and I have read and agreed with your analysis of the games with an increasing sense of awe at our like-mindedness, even though we like different teams. The one thing I would say is the magic got away with some reaching fouls early, but I totally was in sheer stupid awe of the fouls they called for Lebron. Not all of them, but at least three or four were like my brain wanted to explode. I used to love lebron before this series, but now I am almost mad and its not really his fault; I don’t like how Dwight is fouling out and he seems to be getting that 1/3 edge in calls. By the way, he is far and away the best player in the game, so I cant even imagine how it is to really try and ref for him, because he is the fastest/strongest player, awe inspiring. rambling at this point, just wanted to say I commend your objectivity.
By the way, he is far and away the best player in the game, so I cant even imagine how it is to really try and ref for him, because he is the fastest/strongest player, awe inspiring. rambling at this point, just wanted to say I commend your objectivity.
By HE i mean the king :)
Hahaha,where is the king now,best player who?are you kiding me!they cant even defeat the magic even with the help of refs.cavs cakewalk against atlanta and detroit who are a bad teams now they got the real fight and they about to sleep already,hahaha.all this LBJ thing just overhyped.KOBE still the best player in the planet.
Are you f’n kidding me???? I melted down on a number of bad calls against the Cavs… Hedo used his Off ARM as a shield the WHOLE game while WE get called for him pushing us off, yeah those were great calls. Howard lowering his shoulder into Andy’s face and then into Z’s chest time after time, yeah we committed the fouls on those to. Howard also MUGGED MO on a drive sometime in the 3rd Q with NO FOUL. The officiating was horrible yesterday. I watched the game this morning again and the Cavs def. got the short end of the stick without a doubt.
It’s funny how Mr. Krolik seems to be the only Ohio resident to actually acknowledge that the Magic have overcame the lion’s share of the bad calls. The refs have blown calls on both ends, but c’mon, everyone and their mom can see the Magic have been affected more. You should probably be looking at the real reasons the Cavs are in this position and what they need to do to dig themselves out. I hope, for your sake, the Cavs are doing that instead of blaming the refs, because they’ll be done in 5 or 6 if they don’t.
Also, Mo Williams should probably try to have a semi-decent game in the playoffs for once in his life before spouting stuff out of his mouth. That would really help the Cavs going forward and make this a better series to watch (combined with maybe having a Steve Javie crew instead of Joe Crawford).
new reader, first time post. Watching the game made me feel OK as a cavs fan — we’ve figured out the defense side. OK, we don’t have good shooting guards but aside for Gibson in 2007 (on his streak) we never have. Refs were terrible. Really felt the refs were pushing for us to win the game. Howard’s block of Lebrons 3 point attempt in the 4th was very very clean.
This looks to me much like the same team of 2007: Lebron, Andy, Z, pavs –donte west instead of marshall, and an underperforming Moe Williams instead of Hughes. I like both Hughes and williams — both are excellent on defense — but they are getting lots of looks and unable to sink anything. The 2007 team was both lucky and outperformed. The bad refs aside, we are not lucky right now, and we are not outperforming. Having two weak teams before in the playoffs didn’t help.
One more thought: Z, with much love, is finally showing his age.
Could somebody please explain to me why with our guards going 5-26 from three, Wally never saw the floor? I know he isn’t very quick on defense, but I am pretty sure he could do a better job than Gibson, who even got in last night.
Good calls. Bad calls. Whatever. The NBA has the most inconsistent officiating of any major sport. Until they get their act together & actually try to make it better w/replay there’s no point arguing about it. Conspiracy theories aren’t going to make jumpers.
As a Cavs fan I think their biggest problem that can still be corrected is the rotations, or lack thereof, Mike Brown is using. Along those lines – where the hell was Wally last night?!? It’s like Brown makes a choice between Sasha or Wally & sticks to it no matter what’s actually happening on the floor…
In addition, I know the Cavs turned the ball over & couldn’t hit the side of a barn with their jumpers, but Z absolutely killed them last night. HE CAN’T GUARD ANYONE ON ORLANDO, and if he can’t establish post position to get off a high-percentage shot why is he out there?!? There were at least three possessions last night where he took that stupid corner three & missed which lead directly to a Magic fast break. I thought the Cavs were working on taking smart shots so that they’d be in position to get back & play effective D & not get lost in transition… I’m tired of seeing us w/a 7 foot 3 liability out there, and I hate to say that because I love Z, but he just doesn’t work for us in this series. Brown has to to recognize that at this point, doesn’t he?
Doesn’t he?
I’ll stop myself short from foaming at the mouth & ranting on about how Brown’s lineups & assignments are playing directly into Orlando’s hands (but Delonte being too tired down the stretch to score because he’s guarding a guy 7 inches taller is a good example), so I’ll just say this – PLAY SMALL MIKE! AT LEAST FREAKING TRY IT! Put Andy or Joe at the 5, LBJ at the 4, Wally at 3, Delonte at 2, & Mo at the 1 and let them guard Orlando straight up at those positions. Enough of this cross-covering crap that Van Gundy already adjusted to in Cleveland (anyone else notice how Alston ate LeBron alive in the first half?).
It’s not rocket science. It’s basketball. Why not put a lineup out on the floor that matches up with Orlando effectively, & gives the Cavs a better chance to win? Why not at least try it?
Why ask why?
[...] Cavs: The Blog: "It’s pretty simple, folks: you’re not going to beat the best defensive team in the league if you’re not going to be able to make any jumpers. And this team simply could not make a jumper. The team went 5-26 from three-point range, and you have to remember that this is a drive-and-kick team. Mo couldn’t get it going, and he still hasn’t been a force in these playoffs. LeBron couldn’t hit a jumper, missing easy looks and settling for tough ones all too often from the perimeter." [...]
Its Simple.
Magic had to avoid Detroit.
Cavs had to avoid Orlando.
This is why we are seeing what we are seeing…
Cavs Soft, you hit the nail on the head!! ; )
Cavs Soft, finally, someone who understands basketball. It’s all about the matchups. I’m a Magic fan. I was relieved when we didn’t have to play the Pistons, because for the Magic they present matchup problems. I think that the Cavs is a good team, but they just match up horribly against the Magic. So far this series is a mirror of the regular season between these two teams.
Here’s how the officiating went:
1st 3 quarter: LeBron forcing the issue going to the hole. Driving past the magic perimeter players into the teeth of the defense. Either driving into a jumping Dwight Howard (which should be a foul everytime…since that’s how they call if for the entire league) or careeing off the side of someone’s hip (again a foul). There were also at least 4 plays where LeBron did this and they DIDN’T call a foul.
Meanwhile, as soon as the Cavs got out of a 5 point lead, the refs started blowing their whistles when the magic had the ball 35 feet from the hoop. In a span of 15 seconds, Delonte West got called for two ticky tack fouls on Hedo Turkoglu. Turk then started trying to dribble out of traps and as the other reader commented, use his off arm on the guy showing on the pick – and the refs would immediately blow their whistle. For a guy that was 0 of everything for almost 3 quarters, missing outside jumpers, he sure did get awarded a lot of foul shots – NONE of which were for driving to the basket.
There were bad calls both ways, for sure. The funny part is that at the end of the 3rd quarter, Van Gundy made a comment about how LeBron gets 2 ft every time he dribbles. I think what he MEANT to say was…Hedo gets 2 ft every time he’s 35 feet from the hoop.
The magic shot more FT – but of course everyone says that the Cavs were INTENTIONALLY fouling the Magic that much. Riiiiiiight. There were probably 4-6 fouls that were truly intentional – just the Cavs trying to wrap up Howard.
I can’t stand the whining anymore. THe magic shot 51 FT at home and they’re whining about it.
Was that last call against Howard ridiculous? Yes. Bad call. It didn’t affect the outcome of the game whatsoever. But Magic fans and that Mike from the Sentinal have their “gotcha” moment.
Oh how I wish I’d recorded that game on my computer – I’d make a nice clip of all the “fouls” the Magic were awarded 35 feet from the hoop.
Magic fans you realize that getting into the bonus early in each of the last 3 quarter’s is why you won the game right?
[...] Cavs: The Blog: "It’s pretty simple, folks: you’re not going to beat the best defensive team in the league if you’re not going to be able to make any jumpers. And this team simply could not make a jumper. The team went 5-26 from three-point range, and you have to remember that this is a drive-and-kick team. Mo couldn’t get it going, and he still hasn’t been a force in these playoffs. LeBron couldn’t hit a jumper, missing easy looks and settling for tough ones all too often from the perimeter." [...]
[...] Cavs: The Blog: "It’s pretty simple, folks: you’re not going to beat the best defensive team in the league if you’re not going to be able to make any jumpers. And this team simply could not make a jumper. The team went 5-26 from three-point range, and you have to remember that this is a drive-and-kick team. Mo couldn’t get it going, and he still hasn’t been a force in these playoffs. LeBron couldn’t hit a jumper, missing easy looks and settling for tough ones all too often from the perimeter." [...]