Game 41: Cavs @ Magic 1/22/2024

[JonFromVA]

Cavaliers vs. Magic Projected Starting Lineups

Cleveland Cavaliers

PG Max Strus
SG Donovan Mitchell
SF Isaac Okoro
PF Dean Wade
C Jarrett Allen

Orlando Magic

PG Markelle Fultz
SG Jalen Suggs
SF Chuma Okeke
PF Paolo Banchero
C Goga Bitadze

The Magic beat the Heat Sunday night, so they are on a back to back. Another spot of luck for the Cavs if they can take advantage.

[ijspeelman]

[jbk1234]

Niang and Ingles with the 30 and over league battle.

[Iwasawitness]

If anyone was hoping Bickerstaff would get fired after this season, I think that ship has sailed.

[ijspeelman]

Since the turn of the year, I've been watching the Cavs only on the side so I do not have any solid takes, but every time I look over and we are winning by more than 20 I am still shocked. Will the wheels fall off?

Yeah, this is a back-to-back for the Magic and yeah, we've had an incredibly easy schedule. But, great teams don't consistently smack even bad opponents to this level night-to-night. It has been a marvel this last month

Basically, I just want to see this energy transfer over to our fully healthy team

[JujitsuFlip]

Since the turn of the year, I've been watching the Cavs only on the side so I do not have any solid takes, but every time I look over and we are winning by more than 20 I am still shocked. Will the wheels fall off?

Yeah, this is a back-to-back for the Magic and yeah, we've had an incredibly easy schedule. But, great teams don't consistently smack even bad opponents to this level night-to-night. It has been a marvel this last month

Basically, I just want to see this energy transfer over to our fully healthy team

And transfer to the playoffs.

[Iwasawitness]

Since the turn of the year, I've been watching the Cavs only on the side so I do not have any solid takes, but every time I look over and we are winning by more than 20 I am still shocked. Will the wheels fall off?

Yeah, this is a back-to-back for the Magic and yeah, we've had an incredibly easy schedule. But, great teams don't consistently smack even bad opponents to this level night-to-night. It has been a marvel this last month

Basically, I just want to see this energy transfer over to our fully healthy team

I don't think it's just the energy. Having all this spacing has unlocked Jarrett Allen as a player and he's shown more fluidity in his offensive game. And Sam Merrill breaking out has helped too. You have two guys play at an all star level and a lot of really solid/good roleplayers? This is usually what will happen. THIS version of the Cavs can beat anyone.

[jbk1234]

I was pleased that Niang didn't let that cheap shot go when the officials did. I was also pleased that TT walked over at the end of the game to get Niang's back in case it escalated. You absolutely have to have guys like that on your team.

[afarmenian]

Cavs are going to have some decisions to make if this keeps up.

I am still tempering my expectations but I am getting excited. I have been pessimistic about this team being so dependent on the big 4 but now Merril and Porter are starting to look like legit nba players and a couple of real assets.

It's going to be interesting now to see what happens if they continue to show they are capable rotation pieces. You have Levert Porter Merril Strus Garland Mitchell Okoro. To me Levert is the odd man out I just don't like his game enough to justify sitting Merril unless Merril flukes out. Hopefully Garland comes in and plays the true point guard role. I think we have seen enough from everyone else that we don't need him to be a 20 point scorer. We need him to push the pace and be a 10 assist pg

I have no worries about Mobley fitting in. You're basically replacing TT (hasnt been bad i know) with Mobley and Allen will need some load management eventually. Remember he has had a major injury every year

[JonFromVA]

Since the turn of the year, I've been watching the Cavs only on the side so I do not have any solid takes, but every time I look over and we are winning by more than 20 I am still shocked. Will the wheels fall off?

Yeah, this is a back-to-back for the Magic and yeah, we've had an incredibly easy schedule. But, great teams don't consistently smack even bad opponents to this level night-to-night. It has been a marvel this last month

Basically, I just want to see this energy transfer over to our fully healthy team

I just want to see a fully healthy Cavs team in the playoffs.

The weird thing is while I'd say from watching the games that Isaac and Dean have played really well, you're not going to see much of it from the box score as they're still pretty low volume contributors on offense. With Max a little dinged up and Caris out, there's not even a hot streak from one of them driving us.

And while our 3pt shooting has been consistently good through this streak, we're only 21st in the league in 3pt% for the season.

Like I pointed out in the regular season thread, it's our defense which has been rapidly trending towards the top of the league; and I think that's where we see the consistent contribution from honestly everyone but certainly Jarrett, Dean and Isaac are due some special recognition.

And then on offense, Donovan is on a really nice tear where whenever an opponent makes a move on us he will just put an end to it by driving or nailing 3's and of course the exceptional shooting from Sam who's helped make sure we don't lose ground or push the lead when we go to our bench rotations.

But JBB has got to prepare the team for the playoffs and find the right buttons to push when we get there or he will be gone. His adjustments need to be proactive and not forced upon him by injuries or desperation.

[JonFromVA]

Since the turn of the year, I've been watching the Cavs only on the side so I do not have any solid takes, but every time I look over and we are winning by more than 20 I am still shocked. Will the wheels fall off?

Yeah, this is a back-to-back for the Magic and yeah, we've had an incredibly easy schedule. But, great teams don't consistently smack even bad opponents to this level night-to-night. It has been a marvel this last month

Basically, I just want to see this energy transfer over to our fully healthy team

I don't think it's just the energy. Having all this spacing has unlocked Jarrett Allen as a player and he's shown more fluidity in his offensive game. And Sam Merrill breaking out has helped too. You have two guys play at an all star level and a lot of really solid/good roleplayers? This is usually what will happen. THIS version of the Cavs can beat anyone.

Whenever someone brings up spacing it always catches my attention because most of our opponents are still defending us with players waiting near the paint and trying to anticipate what the ball handler will do.

Jarrett had 4 assists in this game and it's usually instructive to look at each one:

#1) Jarrett is holding the ball, Max runs around Jarrett, gets a step on his man, and Jarrett passes it to him for a layup. Donovan is distracting the 3 other Magic defenders by running a screen action on the other side of the floor.

#2) 3 defenders collapse on Allen to keep him away from the rim, he passes it out to CPJ who drives all the way for an uncontested layup. Not sure why Jarrett got an assist here (very generous), and afraid of the lob to Allen or something but WCJ just didn't try to contest Craig. Isaac's man helped off him, but Strus and Niang's didn't, but should have had to with WCJ back. Strus and Niang's shooting meant CPJ only had to deal with two defenders in the paint.

#3) Allen just tossed the ball behind his back to Niang who buried a 3pter. Letting Allen play away from the rim, Orlando's laziness, and Niang's shooting made this happen.

#4) This is a P&R with Strus and Allen. Initially all the off ball defenders are a foot outside the paint, but only Banchero cheating off Isaac bits and waives an arm ineffectively at Strus. WCJ cuts off Strus who tosses a lob to Allen, but Allen can't finish it. He does grab the rebound, though, and with only Dean's defender sticking with him, Allen has Mitchell and Okoro wide open. Don has all day to bounce the ball and nail the shot.

IMO, keeping the player and ball movement should be the first priority, which means not overplaying anyone. Defenses are going to cheat and we can exploit that, but they're going to prefer to cheat off Isaac. If we replace Dean and Isaac with Evan and Darius, it shouldn't change the current dynamic significantly.

In this particular game, we didn't get to see a 4 out let alone 5 out lineup. When we get DG back my hope would be that JBB would find a way to run that some of the time with his bench rotations, but JBB will always be hesitant to compromise his defense.

IMO, we have 5 players who provide a really high 3pt threat level in Don, Darius, Max, George, and Sam so it comes down to how often can we get 4 of them on the floor at the same time. If the opponent's lineup allows it, JBB should be jumping all over it.

If JBB looked for it, I suspect he could find situations he could get away with a Wade/Niang front court too.

[JonFromVA]

Cavs are going to have some decisions to make if this keeps up.

I am still tempering my expectations but I am getting excited. I have been pessimistic about this team being so dependent on the big 4 but now Merril and Porter are starting to look like legit nba players and a couple of real assets.

It's going to be interesting now to see what happens if they continue to show they are capable rotation pieces. You have Levert Porter Merril Strus Garland Mitchell Okoro. To me Levert is the odd man out I just don't like his game enough to justify sitting Merril unless Merril flukes out. Hopefully Garland comes in and plays the true point guard role. I think we have seen enough from everyone else that we don't need him to be a 20 point scorer. We need him to push the pace and be a 10 assist pg

I have no worries about Mobley fitting in. You're basically replacing TT (hasnt been bad i know) with Mobley and Allen will need some load management eventually. Remember he has had a major injury every year

IMO, we just need Darius to stop conserving energy, initiate the offense quicker, and move off the ball. It all comes down to trusting the bench and that's on the coach. Darius, Don, Max, and Sam should be in motion when they're on the floor because they are all threats to shoot the ball or pass it / drive it when the defense breaks down. Which is preferable to just constantly trying to drive in to a set defense. Evan and/or Jarrett can get out of the paint and act as hubs for the offense.

Pretty simple stuff if the buy in continues.