Recap: Magic 103, Cavs 83 (Or, You Can Only Use The Grit and Grind Button So Much)
2021-01-05There is a grit and grind button. J.B. Bickerstaff keeps it in his front pocket. Unfortunately for Bickerstaff, that button has a meter; he depleted it in the first half of the game tonight. And, winning without that button just wasn’t happening as the teams’ point guard woes compounded with Dante Exum leaving the court on a non-contact injury less than a minute after tip-off. Right now, the news is that it’s just a right calf strain.
The team was already dealing with a depleted line up trotting out Damyean Dotson, Collin Sexton, Andre Drummond, and Larry Nance Jr. alongside Exum for their sixth different group of starters this season. Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro did not play.
The Cavs were able to play some very solid defense early in the game to keep things interesting forcing 21 turnovers for 26 points when it all came to a close. The turnovers just didn’t come at the right times tonight. Cleveland forced 12 in the first half but just two in the third quarter (and seven during garbage time in the fourth) which saw the Magic drop six 3s, as they found open looks with ease to outscore the Cavs 38-18. They hit 15 3s to the Cavs’ 10 after the full 48.
The Cavs started out with buttered up hands. They gave it away four times in the first four minutes falling behind 10-0. They would only turn it over 16 times total thankfully. Collin Sexton was responsible for two of the turnovers from basically getting a little too dribble happy. He would go on to finish the night with 24 points on 10-19 shooting, but had two assists to six give aways.
In an occurrence I’m not used to seeing (at least when thinking back to last year), the Cavs didn’t pout after going down. J.B. hit that grit and grind button, and they played stout defense to erase the deficit to 15-11 by the five minute mark with three of their first five buckets coming off turnovers. The Cavs were on the prawl for sloppy passes.
Cedi was menacing. He hounded Markelle Fultz whenever he had the assignment and played tight defense all evening. Osman finished the night with 18 points hitting four 3s and tossing out seven assists to three turnovers.
Get back in it with defense. 😤
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 5, 2021
📺 #CavsMagic on @FOXSportsCLE pic.twitter.com/qsO2Dbju0k
Thon Maker got in on the defensive end too stopping what should have been a sure thing breakaway by Dwayne Bacon near the end of the first quarter.
5-on-1?
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 5, 2021
Advantage, @ThonMaker14. pic.twitter.com/IG5ybyEDoz
The Cavs offense moved pretty smoothly aside from the early turnovers, a Drummond black hole toss away, and an ill-advised Sexton toss up at opening. The Magic were led by Aaron Gordon in the quarter with nine points.
The Cavs entered the second quarter down 26-19, but J.B. kept on mashing with the defense. The first play Bacon tried to drop a huge dunk and completely missed the rim. This forced a shot clock violation after a quick review by the refs to see if it is possible to attempt a dunk where you get your arm and the ball well above the rim without the ball actually touching the rim. It is.
Cedi then orchestrated what I hope ends up being the play most emblematic of this season. After Larry Nance bricked a 3-ball, Thon Maker grabbed the board and tossed it back to Cedi. Cedi than found a cutting Nance for a beautiful oop.
Some 🔥 from @cediosman and @Larrydn22! pic.twitter.com/yeFZPfL6Pa
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) January 5, 2021
The best part was the little smile between Nance and Osman at the end. This team is playing for each other and it shows with the way they get the dirt work done.
Cedi continued to set the pace for the Cavs hitting two Korver esque leaning in 3s coming off of screens on his way to eight in the quarter; Dotson also added in back-to-back 3s after a nice bucket in transition off of a Cedi steal. He put up 16 on the night going 6-10 from the floor.
The defensive pressure stayed consistent as Cleveland played a fair amount of zone, which the Magic just couldn’t bust. The Cavs were making rotation after rotation, just kinda being in the right place at the right time. It was a combination of smarts and immense effort. It also helped that J.B. had a bunch of really long guys on the floor.
There were several times that the smallest guy on the floor for Cleveland was Dotson at 6’5”
Nikola Vucecic kept the Magic from giving up their lead dropping in ridiculous turn around jumpers for 11 points. He finished the night with 23 points and eight rebounds.
The Cavs entered the locker room looking like mechanics down 51-49.
The third quarter is where things fell apart for Cleveland. J.B. tried to hit that grit and grind button and just heard an annoying “boop” sound signalling that the meter was depleted. Markelle Fultz put a hard dunk down to open things up, and the Cavs sort of responded with a Cedi post-dump pass to Drummond for a dunk that wasn’t inspired. Dotson even dropped another 3 to put the Cavs up one.
Then it happened. The Magic realized you can penetrate a zone and then shoot between the cracks. Or, even better, just shoot before it’s even set up. Aaron Gordan caught fire going 3-3 from deep getting 13 total points in the third. He finished the evening hitting a career high 6-9 from 3 and had 24 points and 12 rebounds.
The Cavs couldn’t make a dent in the lead at all and just got sloppy. Sexton had two charges and the team even got a three in the key. It wasn’t pretty. And, the fourth isn’t worth words at this point.
Gripes
- Andre Drummond didn’t show up this evening scoring wise with 10. He went 5-15 even missing some bunnies. He did have four assists and 14 rebounds.
- Drummond was part of the overall trouble the Cavs had in the paint. They had 44 points down, but they shot just 44.7%. League average is 54.7%.
- They struggled mightily on the boards tonight too.The Magic had 36 defensive rebounds .The Cavs had a total of 36 boards. The Magic had 18 offensive boards. That’s not a typo. I like the use of the zone, but guys have got to man up after the shot is up and just box out. Cleveland had a large group out on the floor most of the night. The rebounding wasn’t acceptable.
- Is Markelle Fultz deceptively quick? He seems like the quickest man on earth with how often he gets in the the paint. He can’t shoot. I don’t understand why guys were playing up on him so much. Anyways, it’s awesome that he’s actually an NBA player after his rough career start; he deserved the eight assists he dished out.
Hypes
The fellas lead the league in steals and it's easy to see why.
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 5, 2021
📺 #CavsMagic on @FOXSportsCLE pic.twitter.com/NPrT8aIsDj
- The Cavs really did damage with their defense for the first half of the game. Sometimes teams are going to bust the zone up, but while it was creating turnovers, it looked awesome. If the team can work to keep the defensive pressure up for 48 minutes a night, they are going to get wins no matter how the offense looks. They are truly ball hawks. They had nine steals and seemed to have their hands in Orlando’s way constantly.
- Collin didn’t stand out aside from the turnovers. He still got 24 points though. He’s showing he can be a premiere scorer consistently.
- Cedi and Dotson are both solid role players. Once the roster is full, I’m excited to see what those two can bring off the bench. They both love to push the ball in transition.
- Speaking of transition, this team wants to be in transition all the time. It’s a wonderful thing to see when a guy Drummond’s size can get a steal and run the floor. That’s some buy in. See above!
- Terrence Ross didn’t stand out much tonight. He was averaging 22 per game and scored just 15. He wasn’t a sixth man of the year candidate this game.
- I like Cole Anthony. I’m not sure he’s able to shoot the ball, but he went at Sexton when he had the rock and plays the most annoying brand of defense. The brand where he just won’t let you have anything no matter how inconsequential it is. If he was a Cav, he’d have Delly levels of love. He had nine points and four assists.
The Cavs look like an NBA team, and this game was more enjoyable than pretty much any game I watched last year. Dare I say this team is moving to Session IPA status. I no longer need a high octane IPA to enjoy them. If things go right, by the end of the year my beer of choice for games could be a domestic. They play Orlando again on Wednesday.
GOOD START BY THE CAVS —NEW ” DO ” FOR DRE DOING WONDERS FOR HIS PERFORMANCE
JUST SITIING “STUNNED ‘ WATCHING THE NEWS IN WASHINGTON AND ASK MYSELF ” WHY ” AND ” WHEN ” –( WILL IT ALL END )……….
DAMN JUST HEARD DANTE WILL BE OUT 6–8 WEEKS
Honestly better than alternative.
Loved it David. This was my fave: “This forced a shot clock violation after a quick review by the refs to see if it is possible to attempt a dunk where you get your arm and the ball well above the rim without the ball actually touching the rim. It is.”
Ice.
Glad his foot is OK, was fearing the worst.
Bloody he$l. Things are going to be rough offensively for the next 3-4 games.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30662491/cleveland-cavaliers-darius-garland-week-shoulder-sprain
wow….. no healthy point guard for at least the next week????
AS A HIGH SCHOOL COACH FOR 30 YRS —REBOUNDING OR LACK OF ESPECIALLY DEFENSIVELY / GIVING OPPONENTS EXTRA OPPORTUNITIES DROVE ME TO …..” MORE BEER PLEASE “……….JERRY LUCAS AND LARRY BIRD WERE NOT ATHLETIC AT ALL BUT THEIR ANTICIPATION OF WHERE THE BALL WILL GO / BE AT THAT SPOT WAS AMAZING/ AND MADE THEM GREAT REBOUNDERS ——READ ONCE WHERE LUCAS WOULD SPEND HRS HAVING SOMEONE SHOOT THE BALL AND WATCHING WHERE IT LANDED / HONED HIS ‘ ANTICIPATION ‘ SKILLS —–WITH TODAYS 3 PT SHOOTING —‘THE LONGER THE SHOT —THE LONGER THE REBOUND ” THE GD’S HAVE TO REALIZE… Read more »
One reason Delly is so great. He is a master of the long rebound and the box out. When we did gotbuckets analytics, he was in 90th percentile for impacting teams rebound rate as a rookie guard. Always retreats to the free throw line for long rebounds.
I have been pondering the rebounding deficiency this season. It seems strange we struggle to d board when we have Drummond, McGee, and Nance. I can’t figure out why. My total speculation is that either our small backcourt when in together costs us by essentially limiting the number of potential rebounders on the floor or that the occasional zones we play wreak havoc with our rebounding positioning on d. Sexton misses boxouts a fair amount. Even if those two guys do box out, they still are so small guys could get tips over them. Wondering if anyone had any thoughts… Read more »
The issue with the zone hypothesis is it’s not like we play zone all the time. We play man a lot more. I feel like that is part of it, but maybe not the whole answer. But maybe we play it enough and are so woeful at dboarding in it that it is enough to explain the discrepancy. I dunno.
Also Garland didn’t play last night, so hypothesis number two takes a hit. Maybe it is the zone looks.
It’s the zone plus Sexton/Cedi/Okoro being not good rebounders so far this year.
Sexton and Cedi’s numbers in particular are awful because there’s so much more data about them.
I wonder if there are numbers on how much teams play certain defenses. Would be interested to see what percentage of looks have been zone this year. I don’t think it has been a crazy high number at least to my eyes.
The cedi and sexton thing is real. Cedi has never been particularly good at boarding. And Sexton usually has at least a few noticeably missed boxouts per game. Garland to my eyes usually tries to put a body on someone.
totally “uneducated” guess is that they’re probably playing upwards of 25% zone…. which is insanely high I bet.
and by definition of the shots the zone forces, they’re more likely than usual to be long rebounds.
100%. Their man is also switch heavy with match up zone concepts, which also leads to rebounding issues.
good point about the switching.
AuPM rankings for rookies, Okoro ranks 4th in the rookie class, behind Deni, Peyton Pritchard, and Cole Anthony.
Freaking Peyton Pritchard
he’s good… limited upside, but day 1 NBA player.
Oh I know. I’m just annoyed the Cavs didn’t trade in to get a guy like him or Desmond Bane.
LMFAOO oh yeah, exactly!!! Heard Bane’s name a lot pre-draft, and Malachi Flynn and Maxey of course.
Cavs bigs needs to develop some pick/pop games adn that shoudl open up offense. I see no reason, even with JAVALE MGEE!!! that our bigs couldnt consistently knock down 12-15 footers. Its the ‘Z’ game plan for which he was most famous for, playing with Lebron or even with other Cavs guards. Also if I’m a Cavs coach I bark at guys like Wade and Maker to crash the effin boards like crazy. This early in season teams arent that aggressive so they have opportunities to get some rebounds on both ends and be more productive. The key for all… Read more »
Please no. Javale mid rangers is a recipe for disaster. Neither of them are good enough shooters to make this work and opposing defenses would happily give this up. The only reason to try threes is the added point makes the lower success rate at least worth trying. Larry needs to shoot more, and this would work for him, but otherwise, no.
LEO I TOO WAS SOMEWHAT EXCITED WHEN CAVS SIGNED “LE ” THON ——THOUGHT THIS MIGHT BE HIS CHANCE TO SURFACE AS A PRO ——DIDN’T KNOW HE HAD SUCH LIMITED SKILLS —-REMEMBERING SEEING SOME VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS WHEN HE WAS A YOUNGSTER ‘ WAS VERY IMPRESSIVE / INTRIGUING / WHICH IS PROBABLY WHY BUCKS DRAFTED HIM SO HIGH ——IF JB IS GOING TO PLAY HIM AT THE 4 SPOT —“LE ” THON HAS TO DEVELOP SOME BALLHANDLING SKILLS / MOVES TO THE BASKET / 15 ‘ JUMP SHOT / DEVELOP THOSE SKILLS AND CONFIDENCE TO GO ALONG WITH IT —-BUT IF IT… Read more »
Thon is just very passive. Occasionally he,ll make a defensive move, but he doesn’t even want the ball at this point.
THANK YOU DAVE —-DIDN’T WATCH LIVE —-WATCHED ALEX TREBEK’S LAST WEEK ON JEOPARDY AS A TRIBUTE TO HIM —–” WHAT DO YOU CALL A DEPLETED TEAM / ON THE ROAD / WITH COLD 1ST QTR SHOOTING / TO’S ————ANSWER –” A LOSS “———–YES CAN’T WAIT / HOPING WHEN WE FINALLY GET A FULL ROSTER / JB’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE THEN MIGHT BE TO KEEP ALL PLAYERS HAPPY / FINDING MINUTES FOR THEM —-REALLY STARTING TO LIKE DOTSON —INSTANT OFFENSE AND PLAYS HARD ON DEFENSE– ANOTHER SOLID PICK UP ALONG WITH JAVALE BY KOBY —–SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO ABOUT SEXTON –(… Read more »
The Magic offensive boards were pretty revolting in this one.
Also, letting Gordon have that many open 3s was sub optimal.
Cavs were fielding half a team, hope we have Okoro back next game, my guess is maybe Garland will sit one more.
The 3s were annoying, but AG hasn’t shot the 3-ball well in the prior games.
Good capture, David.
I can’t watch games live (morning time in Aus) much at the moment, being in a remote location with only a 4G phone to watch on. I can watch replays on WIFI in the evening though. So for the first time, I’m watching Cavs games at night and enjoying a drink, rather than coffee & breakfast.
I hear what you are saying David – my pours of gin per glass are reducing. I may be down to a single shot soon.
Lmfao
Nance didnt do much to try and score which was odd…he had many open looks from 3pt line and even some 12 footers to drop and just passed instead. While I enjoy a big man trying to pass the rock, he really needed to step up and try to score and get the Magic bigs in foul trouble. The lack of any attempts was probably the most frustrating part of the game. This team needs to get healthy, the injuries are alarming especially with how young this team is. Be different if its older guys, but these are young dudes… Read more »
For someone of Larry’s size, if he really tried to intimidate & bully, he could. I am starting to cringe when he gets the rock anywhere close the basket and puts the ball on the floor.
He’s playing scared offensively. It’s a shame he passes up the open 3s cause his shot looks pretty good.
I mean he did shoot a number of open treys last night and the last few games. Problem is he just isn’t hitting. I think he loses confidence when he misses, just like cedi. Nance’s strongest scoring potential is as a roller. He doesn’t have much of a post game and isn’t a great ball handler, so driving can be iffy. He really is somewhat limited scoring wise. He does have very good vision, but someone mentioned last night that when he doesn’t look to score it limits his playmaking and I think that is correct. Teams sag off him… Read more »
On the offensive side, Collin Sexton is literally our only above average offensive impact player, and he ranks ~75th in O-PIPM in the NBA…. with a splash of Garland, then an insane drop off to the ~400 in rankings for the rest.
Biggest question to me is whether JB Bickerstaff’s offensive philosophy of “everybody eats” isn’t working because of injuries or because it’s strategically flawed…. but too much of the offense runs through Drummond and McGee thru the first 7 games.
Getting a sneak preview of PIPM numbers (looks like data includes tonight’s game)… here’s what I see so far:
Garland – ranked #100 in NBA, +0.34 PIPM, -0.43 O-PIPM, +0.76 D-PIPM
Sexton – ranked #129 in NBA, +0.17 PIPM, +0.40 O-PIPM, -0.23 D-PIPM
Drummond – ranked #144 in NBA, +0.05 PIPM, -1.46 O-PIPM, +1.51 D-PIPM
Exum – ranked top 25 in D-PIPM in the NBA
Drummond – ranked top 6 in D-PIPM in the NBA
McGee – ranked top 30 in D-PIPM in the NBA
Garland – ranked top 40 in D-PIPM in the NBA
Okoro and Lance Stephens top 50 D-PIPM in the NBA.
Love, Windler, Nance, Wade, Maker, Bolden all just outside top 50.
What is pipm? That is a new one to me? An nba.com stat?
Player Impact Plus Minus… invented by Jacob Goldstein.
Another version of plus minus…. and their website aggregates all the plus/minus stats.
Ah. Will have to check it out.
He supposedly works for the Wizards org now.