Recap: Cavs 122, Magic 102 (Return of the Snipers)

This game between the Cavs, now tied at the top of the Eastern Conference, and eastern conference weaklings, the Magic, was surprisingly close until it became a ‘John Wick’ style shooting display. Despite the lack of full game dominance, the Cavs were playing defense physically throughout and held Orlando to 38% from the field. Oh, and the threes were flowing. Long distance gunners, J.R and Korver, were both in good form, Korver appeared to have no rust following his foot injury and J.R’s appeared to be shaking his off. J.R made four threes in the first 3:12 of a beautiful 40 to 23 third quarter, and Cleveland as a unit started 6-7 on threes– with James getting assists on five of them. Korver scored 11 in 12 minutes and the gravity he created on the floor in this short time was evident. The third quarter dominance of this game painted a picture of what made the 2016 Cavs so dominant in the playoffs.

After this game the Cavs became the third team in league history to reach 1,000 3s in a season, joining Golden State (1,077 last season) and Houston, which has dropped 1,109 this season.

It was all about the “big four,” Tuesday. Lebron notched up his second straight triple double; 18 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Kevin Love got 28 points, Kyrie Irving 24 and JR Smith 19. Lebron has now scored in double figures for the 788th game in a row and is now second on the all-time list behind Michael Jordan (866). For the Magic; Evan Fournier scored 21 points, Aaron Gordon, Terrence Ross and Elfrid Payton all scored 12 points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY6TpB2v27I

First Quarter:
The Cavs entered this match knowing that only victory was acceptable to keep pace with the Celtics at the top of the eastern conference. They started off quickly with an assist fueled six-point lead, the Magics however hit back by scoring run of 15 -3 to take the lead at 15- 9. Ross and Fournier were doing exceptionally well offensively. The Cavs however roared back behind a “why ya been gone so long?!” J.R hot streak and ended the quarter just three points behind: 28-31.

Second Quarter:
The second quarter was not dissimilar to the first and both teams battled pretty evenly: surprising considering the Magic have the worst record against the Cavs among all teams in the history of the NBA. Kevin and LeBron started wearing Orlando out inside and at the foul line – Kevin in the post, and LeBron on the drive. Cleveland ended the quarter with a 2-point advantage 55-53.

Third Quarter:
The third quarter saw a total transformation in the balance of power in the game, due to some high level offensive and defensive play by the Cavs, they totally dominated the quarter and scored a whopping 43-points compared to 20-points scored by the shell shocked Magics. The quarter ended at 96 -75 in favor of the Cavs.  Magic coach Frank Vogel, talked about the the third quarter blitz post game.

The bottom line is you have to bring help to elite players. Kyrie and LeBron had 13 assists in that quarter. That triggers their championship-level ball movement. That’s why they’re champs. They were at their best in that quarter.

Vogel, like all basketball fans has seen what Lebron can do when the ball is moving effectively. The third Quarter was where Lebron and Kyrie chipped most of their game assists, and the offense looked more fluent than it did in all of March. The final 50% three point field goal percent can attest to how much better the Cavs are when the ball is in constant motion.

Fourth Quarter:

Can anyone say “rest?” It was good to see the starters sit some following the grind that was the Pacers game – though LeBron did stay in long enough to get his triple double. With the team’s relative age it will be important to quickly handle easily beatable teams to allow for maximized rest leading into the playoffs. This post season, like the last few, could easily be decide by someone not being at 100%.

Conclusion

The Cavs converted 53.7% (44-82) of Field goals compared to 38.4% (33-86) by the Magic. The Cavs scored 50% of their 3-pointers (18-36) compared to 33.3% (11-33) for the Magic. Cleveland won despite Orlando shooting an insane 96% (25-26) from the charity stripe compared to 76% (16-21) for the Cavs, an area of continued weakness. The Cavs had a total of 30 assists, one of the seasons high marks, and a respectable 12 turnovers, compared to 23 and 14  for the Magics. The locker room seemed jovial, which always bodes well, Lebron was quoted saying. ‘I like everything,” he said. ”I love my brothers.”

On to Beantown…