Recap: Cleveland 104, Orlando 79 (or, 2015 was just a tuneup)

Joshua Gunter / Cleveland.com

The Cavs baptized baby new year in sweat and twine Saturday tonight. Then, they discarded the Orlando Magic like an expired word-of-the-day calendar. Like Carly Fiorina in 2016, Orlando never stood a chance. LeBron and Co. held the Magic to four points during the first seven minutes, and ended the quarter up 29-13. With three days rest after a brutal Christmas road trip, Cleveland positively vibrated with energy each possession as the Cavs out-ran, out-hustled, out-executed, and out-talented the Magic all night.

Orlando flew in on the second night of a back-to-back, and it showed, as they consistently took the first or second shot available, and failed to get the ball to their leading scorer, Nikola Vucevic. Elfrid Payton looked especially bad, and was rumored to be dealing with an ankle injury. Meanwhile, Cleveland held a dunk-a-thon. LeBron, Mozgov, and Thompson all flushed multiple vicious thumpers while the Magic stood like props.

Cleveland led by as many as 31 in the third and fourth quarters, and the final period was entirely garbage time, as the backend of the Cavs’ bench got plenty of playing time. There were more positives than an after-Christmas-sale for the Cavaliers.

LeBron James‘s jumper was looking wet. I still saw him fade to the left on one or two shots, but as the game went on, it got more compact. Now that Kyrie’s back, and TT and Delly are compressing the defense with the Loaded Wombat offense, ‘Bron’s getting catch-and-shoot jumpers like back in his Miami days, and he’s starting to cash them in. James finished 11-18 from the floor, 4-7 from three, and 3-4 from the line to go with five boards, three assists, two steals, and zero turnovers. Plus the dunks…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxgwrJZls58

I’ll leave it to the commenter Phil Hubbard to sum up Kyrie Irving.

1st Quarter: Kyrie Swerving is back! Sets up a LeBron 3 with a shake-and-bake drive, then attacks the defender in transition for an and-one.

3rd Quarter: Kyrie weaves through the entire Magic defense and finds JR for a 3.

Postgame: Kyrie’s floor game looks like it’s just about back to 100%. He had a few of those drives where he changes direction 4 or 5 times on his way to the hoop, and looked strong and in control. Now he just needs the shot to come around.

Irving finished with 13 on 4-12 shooting, five dimes and a turnover.

Tristan Thompson chased down rebounds like Super Mario jumps for gold coins. Orlando stood around and let him bounce around, over and through them for rebounds, putbacks, and miraculous saves. He had six offensive boards, six defensive, and 10 points on a variety of lane-filling throw downs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCKZYmi7ub4

Sadly, TT’s free throw blues are back. 2-8 tonight. But in every other aspect he was stellar. I thought this diving-out-of-bounds offensive rebound, which led to Delly’s only trey, was the play of the night.

Speaking of the Wombat, Matthew Dellavedova went 1-6, but added six assists and only one turnover. He ran the offense perfectly. That lob P/R with TT bent Orlando’s defense into pretzels. The Commonwealth Connection is becoming a real weapon. Orlando was sending three guys to stop it, and Delly found open shooters behind the arc when they did, or got the ball to TT anyway. Delly’s ability to defend either guard spot and to play with any other guard on the Cavs’ roster is going to be a big headache for opposing coaches come playoff time.

Now that the Cavs’ roster is whole, guys who’ve been starting this year and last year like Shump, Mozgov, and Delly are coming off the bench. Now, the Cleveland bench – the Space Stars, as we’ve dubbed them – gives opposing defenses no relief when the starters are resting. Timofey Mozgov was particularly devastating as a finisher tonight. He tried to rip the rim down three times, and ended up with two dunks and three free throws. This left-handed Mozilla and-1 slam over a hapless Nikola Vucevic was the stuff of Hanna-Barbera legend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmiVVVeBeTI

Kevin Love only took five shots in 28 minutes, but garnered eight free throws attempts (five made) and collected 13 rebounds. His and Tristan’s ability to control the defensive boards allows LeBron to release on misses and get easy transition buckets.

The crazy thing about this game was that the Cavs could have won by more. Cleveland took a mind-numbing 39 free throws, mainly due to the fact that Orlando fouled five times on three point attempts (a number that Austin Carr was convinced must be a record). The Magic closed out recklessly or bit on pump fake after pump fake. The Cavs left fifteen points off the scoreboard with free throw misses (shooting a disappointing 61%). Defensively, they held Orlando to 38% from the floor. The Wine and Gold also won the turnover battle, four to fourteen.

Orlando, the Eastern Conference’s hottest team in December, got boat-raced. Orlando’s biggest losses this year have all come to the Cavs. Cleveland just has their number. Elfrid Payton probably shouldn’t have been playing. Shabazz Napier looked much more lively in garbage time. Vucevic couldn’t get the ball and couldn’t stay out of foul trouble (four in 13 minutes), and it was the same story for Channing Frye. Victor Oladipo chucked up 11 shots in 13 minutes, and LeBron made Tobias Harris and Evan Fournier look like wood and cardboard cutouts.

It was a festive way to ring in the new year for the Cavaliers. Let’s hope, like last year, that they start peaking in January now that the holiday blues are over. Oh, and this recap wouldn’t be complete without mentioning our cover photo. SuperCavsMan, or whatever he’s calling himself was the highlight of the evening. It certainly took a lot of chutzpah to dress up in a skin tight Cavs costume, and cheer from the front row – especially when you’re not the most, um, svelte person in the world. I hope he becomes a regular feature on the Cavs sideline. He even got to dance with Moondog. Only in Cleveland… This has to be our year.