You’re A Candidate, You’re A Candidate…Cavs Coaching Search

By now, perhaps you too have received a request by the Cleveland Cavaliers to interview for their head coaching job. The Cavs have at least five or six candidates to date that they have received permission to interview.

That seems like a lot, particularly because when you made the decision to fire J. B. Bickerstaff, you would think they had at least one or two people in mind to take the job. That doesn’t seem the case.

We also wonder if there are so many candidates because they are looking for someone whose idea for the team is the same as Koby Altman’s, and that may be difficult to find.

We would think most coaches would look at the Cavaliers’ roster and say it will be very difficult to win in the playoffs with two small guards, two solid big men, and a bunch of undersized wings.

Our personal position is we would like someone with previous NBA head coaching experience. On the other hand, we don’t want a retread either. We consider the latter to be someone who has moved around the league from team to team, like a Doc Rivers or a Nate McMillan.

But someone who has had one job deserves a second chance. Isn’t everyone better the second time they do something? We have mentioned previously that we like Kenny Atkinson, who went 118-190 in four seasons with Brooklyn, and took them to the playoffs in one season.

James Borrego seems to be a solid candidate as well, after an interim gig with Orlando in 2014-15, he guided Charlotte for four seasons, the last one resulting in a 43-39 record, which you would think they would initiate statue building instead of getting a pink slip.

One of the candidates mentioned is troubling to us, and that would be Johnnie Bryant, reportedly someone with a close relationship with Donovan Mitchell. In our opinion, that would be a colossal mistake.

What happens if the Cavs aren’t winning with Bryant at the helm? Is the organization stuck with him because Mitchell likes him?

Bryant has no track record of being a head coach in the NBA. Could he lay the hammer down on Mitchell if need be? That’s a tough one because Mitchell would be the guy who got him the gig.

It also puts Mitchell in an imposing position within the organization, and frankly, he’s an excellent player, top 20 at least in the league right now, but he hasn’t earned that kind of gravitas.

It has been reported that Mitchell didn’t like the talk that he wanted Bickerstaff out, so does he want the pressure of being the guy who hired the next coach too?

If we were a candidate for the job, we would want to remake the roster to what currently works in the NBA, which means adding size, and we would want to know if the front office is amenable to doing that.

Especially if you are someone who didn’t play in the league and is hoping for a second chance to sit in the first chair. There aren’t many coaches who get a third chance without great success prior (see Mike Budenholzer).

Hopefully, this is Altman doing a thorough job in canvasing rather that an exercise in seeing who agrees with him.

We use this comment a lot in the world of sports: “The wise man knows what he doesn’t know”. We hope that doesn’t apply here.

With JB Out, The Pressure Is Now On Altman

Thursday, the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t surprise anyone when they announced coach J.B. Bickerstaff would not be returning next season. Bickerstaff was the right man for the job after the John Beilein debacle, but in the NBA, as in life, times change.

Bickerstaff gave the Cavs an identity. They would be a good defensive team and put forth maximum effort. After going 14-40 under Beilein, they won five of the eleven games under the new coach before the season ended due to COVID.

The wine and gold were 29th in defensive rating that season, and during the last three years, they were in the top ten in the league.

We ran into assistant coach Antonio Lang at a mall that season (we don’t know him, but recognized him) and in talking to him (small talk) we said it was a tough season and also remarked at how small the Cavaliers were.

Of the top eight players in minutes that season, the tallest players were Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr. who are both 6’8″. And yes, that’s a theme we will address later.

As we said though, times change in the NBA and while the franchise should be grateful to Bickerstaff for setting a course for the young Cavaliers, now after appearances in the post-season the last three years, it is time for a new voice.

And by the way, that’s okay. There are many times coaches and managers are great in making a young team competitive but someone else comes in to put them over the top.

The term “a new voice” has been mentioned several times about the Cavs and we do not disagree. Cleveland needs a better offensive philosophy than the pick and roll heavy system they have used under Bickerstaff.

And we also still believe the frontcourt of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen can work with a different offensive scheme. It would require Mobley to develop a solid 15-to-18-foot jump shot, but the defensive force that duo gives you is tough to give up on.

Mobley’s biggest strength is being able to guard smaller players on the perimeter and making him a center probably takes that away.

The dismissal of Bickerstaff now puts the pressure to win on president of basketball operations Koby Altman. We said many times during the year that we had issues with the coaching but had equal issues with the roster construction.

We think Cleveland has run its course with the two small guards and no size at the wing position set up. In most games and playoff series, the Cavaliers have a size advantage at one spot, power forward with Mobley. They are undersized at both guard spots and at small forward.

Going back to the conversation with Lang in early 2020 about the roster being small, the person in charge of that roster was also Koby Altman, meaning it’s a trend.

The NBA is getting bigger. The smaller starter among the four teams in the conference finals is Kyrie Irving, listed at 6’2″. The Pacers have a 6’5″ small forward, but both their starting guards are 6’5″ too.

Altman said in his presser he didn’t see the need for changes, but we attribute that to executive speak, he’s not going to tip his hand. The Cavs need players in the 6’7″ to 6’9″ range that can play on the wing and can play.

They also need depth at center and power forward.

J.B. Bickerstaff probably wasn’t the guy to push the Cavaliers forward, but now Koby Altman needs to prove he is the man to build a roster of an NBA title contender.

We will see what the summer brings for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

More Thoughts On The Cavs’ Roster

All kinds of stories were written after the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated from the NBA playoffs Wednesday night, some of them were pretty easy to see truth in .

And it looks like everyone has decided that if Donovan Mitchell stays, the front office will be moving on from Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen.

We will come back to that. It’s also expected that J.B. Bickerstaff will not return as coach. We’ve been pretty transparent that although we don’t think Bickerstaff is a great “x’s and o’s” coach, we don’t hold him solely responsible for the early exit.

(NOTE: We don’t think the front office thinks it was an early exit, it was the GOAL).

However, there have been published reports that Bickerstaff’s job was on the line in December, and if you were thinking of replacing him that early in the year, you shouldn’t have brought him back after last season.

Now for the roster. We have been saying this for months, but if Mitchell signs an extension, the Cavs need to move on from Garland. They simply do not play well together. This is a problem for those who view basketball as a fantasy game, where statistics are just plugged in.

It isn’t. It doesn’t mean Garland is a terrible player and it doesn’t mean he won’t go somewhere else and be better. He just isn’t effective playing with Mitchell.

Also, we heard this debate: You’d be selling low on Garland. This cannot be a consideration. If you want the team to be better in 2024-25, you can’t run back the two under 6’3″ ball dominant guard starting backcourt.

The Cavaliers may move Garland for a normal sized (not 6’5″) small forward who fits better but doesn’t have the “numbers” of the player they are trading. That’s alright.

As for the Allen and Evan Mobley frontcourt, we would like to give the new coach a chance to make it work, especially since Cleveland needs size.

Mobley had a great series vs. Boston, but remember the Celtics were without Kristaps Porzingis, and were playing Al Horford and Luke Kornet at center, players Mobley is clearly more skilled than.

We also disagree Mobley needs to be a three-point shooter for the combo to work. We think a reliable 15-to-18-foot jumper shot would do the trick and allow both of the bigs to thrive.

Allen was the Cavs’ best player in the playoffs when he was injured and for the season, their second best behind Mitchell. Does anyone else think trading the squad’s second-best player in an effort to get better is a bad idea?

The difference is it is clear that the Mitchell/Garland pairing doesn’t bring out the best in either player, while we understand the NBA folks all think bigs have to shoot threes now, we don’t buy into that.

We think a different coach can make Allen and Mobley an effective center/power forward combination. Besides, if Mobley plays center, his biggest value of being able to defend away from the basket is taken away from him.

There is no question the Cavs need to get bigger. They need more size in the backcourt, on the wings, and can’t have only two effective players in the middle. Size matters.

We would like to see the organization give Luke Travers a spot next season. Remember him? He was a second-round pick in 2022 and is a 6’6″ do it all kind of player. In the Australian League, he scored 12 points, grabbed 7.6 boards and dished out two assists.

We know Summer League isn’t a true judge of anything, but he played well there the last two years. We think he could help next year.

And remember, the Cavs do have a first round pick this year. Hopefully, they take someone who can help right away.

Cavs’ Season Ends, Let The Speculation Begin

What seemed inevitable after Donovan Mitchell injured his calf during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal became a reality last night, as the Celtics wrapped up the series in five games with a 113-98 win.

Jarrett Allen didn’t play at all in the series because of a rib injury, and down two starters, they simply didn’t have enough scoring or depth to be able to compete with the team who had the best regular season in the NBA.

Outside of the Game 2 eruption of 118 points, the most points the Cavs scored in the series was 102 in the Game 4 defeat. And when your opponent regularly hits triple digits, it makes it very difficult to win.

Credit J.B. Bickerstaff for having his depleted crew, and they didn’t have Caris LeVert yesterday, play very hard and made both games without Mitchell competitive. The wine and gold didn’t roll over, they made Boston work to win the series.

Tremendous efforts by Evan Mobley and veteran Marcus Morris, particularly in the second half, kept the series winning contest close. Mobley scored 33 points, 25 of them after halftime, while Morris, picked up after being bought out, scored 25 points in total, making five of six three-point shots. That pair scored 36 of the team’s 46 tallies after the half.

The use of Morris in the playoffs was very puzzling because when he was used, he usually did very well. Yet, he received a DNP-CD in Game 4, a crucial game especially because it was home.

Now the speculation on the future of the franchise will begin. Will Bickerstaff return? We have been critical of the coach the past two seasons, but to be honest, we can’t lay this series loss just on him.

Will Koby Altman stay on as Vice President of Basketball Operations? Let’s face it, this roster was poorly constructed to win in the playoffs, they simply aren’t big enough. They start two short guards, two big men, and don’t have an upper echelon player in the 6’7″ to 6’9″ range.

At the very least, the Cavs need to bring in someone from outside to evaluate the current roster. Altman seems to overlook the weaknesses of players he brought in.

None of the basketball people we know understand the love affair with Dean Wade. He’s a pretty good defender, but crazy inconsistent. He simply doesn’t play well in enough games to justify the faith in him.

The Cavaliers don’t have enough “guys who can play”, meaning players who have a diverse skill set. They have way too many one-dimensional talents.

Isaac Okoro is a defender, but other teams don’t feel the need to guard him. Sam Merrill is a shooter. Tristan Thompson can rebound, but you don’t want the ball in his hands offensively. Georges Niang is a three-point specialist.

And beyond Mobley and Allen, there really is no size on the roster. The Cavs signed Damian Jones in the off-season, but he rarely saw action.

More versatility is needed going forward. Max Strus isn’t the three-point shooter the Cavs thought they were getting (they could have looked at his stats), but he’s a decent passer and rebounder for his size. But his size says he should be playing guard.

The biggest question though is Mitchell. Will he sign an extension or not? If he does, the logical move would be to trade Darius Garland, as it is pretty obvious the two do not mesh well.

We’ve heard folks say Garland still has a good reputation in the league, so he could be the bait to bring in more size.

As for the debate as to whether or not Mobley and Allen can play together? We would like to see a different perspective from another coach before determining it can’t work.

The Cavs did indeed make progress from a year ago, winning a post-season series, but the organization seems to put limits on itself. They were one of the final eight teams playing this season. To virtually stand pat again would be a waste of this opportunity.

They did that last year. They can’t afford to do it again.

On To Round Two And Boston For Cavs

Well, they did it. The Cleveland Cavaliers advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs with a 106-94 win over the Orlando Magic. And they overcame an 18-point first half deficit to do it.

Early on, the Cavs couldn’t make a shot on offense and defensively couldn’t stop Paolo Banchero, who had 24 points in the first half.

The game may have turned oddly enough when Max Strus and Darius Garland, who were a combined 1 for 8 from the floor, missing all five of their three-point shots, both had to leave the game in foul trouble.

J.B. Bickerstaff went to Caris LeVert, who he benched in the second half of Game 6, and Sam Merrill, who hadn’t been playing much at all, probably because it was all he had.

LeVert hit 4 of 6 shots and Merrill hit two threes and two free throws the remainder of the half and Cleveland trimmed the lead to a more manageable 10 points at the half.

In the second half, Donovan Mitchell took over, scoring 24 points on 8 of 14 shooting, Strus got it going, knocking down 3 out of 4 from long range, and Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro played tremendous defense.

Mobley was a force inside, grabbing 16 rebounds and blocking five shots in addition to 11 points. Okoro forced Banchero into a 4 for 15 half from the field, putting the young Magic all-star into check.

In the end though, it was Mitchell. He scored 39 points in all and attacked from the opening tip off, getting to the line 17 times, making 15. He kind of willed the Cavs to victory.

So now it is the #1 seed in the East, the Boston Celtics, who had the NBA’s best record in the regular season going 64-18. They ranked first in the league in offensive rating and third in defensive rating.

And they have stars on top of stars: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, and one of the league’s unsung very good players in Derrick White.

However, Porzingis is currently on the shelf with a calf injury, so actually from a size standpoint, the Celts are a much better matchup for Cleveland. Beyond him, the Celtics have only one player who gets more than 20 minutes per night and is 6’9″ or more in Al Horford.

Boston loves the three-point shot, leading the league in attempts and makes, and second in percentage. Their flaw has been when they aren’t going in, they just keep taking them.

The biggest thing though for the Cavs is they have to get offensive production out of someone besides Mitchell and Jarrett Allen, if he can get healthy.

This means Darius Garland simply must play better. Garland hit a three in the fourth quarter and the whole team seemed to celebrate because he’s struggled that much.

Actually, he did shoot well in the series, it was everything else that was awful. He seemed to be very shaky with the ball in his hands and defensively is a problem as well. If he can move the ball (meaning he stops dribbling the air out of the ball) and hit shots, he can be a big asset.

We would also like Bickerstaff to reset. Go back to playing Georges Niang at least to start the series, and we would still go 10 deep, giving time for Sam Merrill, Marcus Morris, and Tristan Thompson.

It’s a new series. We don’t think the Cavs can win; it will be more about how competitive they can play in the series to determine how the team should be reshaped this summer.

Game 7 Today. Which Cavs Will Show Up?

After the Cavaliers won the first two games of their first round series against Orlando, some fans and media members alike got overly excited and were thinking about a series sweep.

We thought that was incredibly misguided and obviously they didn’t spend too much time watching the Orlando Magic. Today, the series will be decided with a Game 7 matchup.

After a closely contested first half which saw the Cavs trailing by four, the wine and gold came out with a 13-0 run to take a nine point lead and it looked good for Cleveland to advance. They led by five after three quarters.

But the Magic outscored the Cavs 30-18 in the fourth and both teams are heading back to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

Donovan Mitchell had a tremendous game, scoring 50 points on 22 of 36 shooting. The shot total might seem high if you didn’t watch the game, but frankly no one else could put the ball in the basket. Literally.

As we said, Cleveland had 18 points in the final quarter. Mitchell scored every single one of them. No one else seemed to want to shoot. The all-star took 13 of the 19 shots. Evan Mobley missed three shots, Darius Garland one, Marcus Morris one, and Georges Niang one.

Late in the fourth quarter, a graphic showed Mitchell had 47 points and we were surprised. We didn’t think he had than many. We knew he was scoring at will in the paint, but we didn’t think he was “hogging” the basketball.

It was a strange game right from the start. J.B. Bickerstaff started Morris, who didn’t play outside of garbage time in any of the first four contests. Yes, Morris deserved playing time after his performance in game five, but start?

Why move away from what worked in the game five win.

Then Caris LeVert, who played almost 29 minutes per night in the regular season, and has been the first man off the bench in the series, played seven minutes in the first half, missed one shot, scored one point, had two steals and two turnovers, and was a -1, didn’t get in the game in the second half.

Don’t understand running away from one of your primary players in a close game.

Niang, who didn’t play in Game 5 (we didn’t understand that either), reappeared in Game 6, and did hit a three, his only field goal make, but didn’t get a rebound.

Cleveland was dominated on the boards again, 48-38, familiar because that’s what happened a year ago.

Of course, the Cavaliers’ best player in the series, Jarrett Allen, missed his second game with a rib injury. Since he’s averaged almost 14 boards per game in the series, he would’ve made a difference.

Will he be back for Game 7? Your guess is as good as ours.

Garland seemed to overly defer to Mitchell in the fourth, taking just one shot. He’s clearly been the best long range shooter for the Cavs in the series, yet took just four threes, making one.

With Allen out, Cleveland desperately needed another scorer and Garland had 21 for the game, but of course, none in the last quarter. And there was no third scorer as the next best point total was Max Strus with 10.

Orlando had three, with as usual, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner leading the way with 27 and 26 respectively, but Jalen Suggs contributed 22 points.

What will happen today? Are the Cavs mentally tough enough to handle a winner take all contest? Will Allen play? Can someone step up and provide offense besides Mitchell and Garland?

Remember, under Bickerstaff, the Cavs have had two such games. In Game 5 last year vs. New York, at home, the wine and gold trailed by 10 at the half and lost by 11.

The previous season in the “play in tournament”, also at home, the Cavaliers led by 10 at the half, but were blitzed in the second half by Atlanta, getting outscored 56-40 with Trae Young lighting the Cavs up for 32 second half points.

History doesn’t paint a kind picture. But there is a reason they still play the game.

Can Unpredictable Cavs Finish It Friday?

For a team that made the play-in tournament and lost in five games to New York a year ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers certainly don’t act like a team that has been involved in post-season basketball for the third consecutive season.

You would think they would be passed the whole “play well at home, play terrible on the road”, but they gutted out a 104-103 Game 5 win over Orlando Tuesday night to take a 3-2 series lead. It was a gutty performance because Jarrett Allen, who may have been Cleveland’s best player in the series, missed the game with a rib injury.

Many of the players who haven’t played in the series to that point came through big time for the wine and gold. The much-maligned Darius Garland got Cleveland off to a great start with 17 first quarter points, winding up with 23 on 9 of 16 shooting, including 3 of 5 from deep.

Garland remains the Cavs’ most reliable long-range shooter in the series, hitting 44.4% (12 of 27).

Max Strus, who together with Georges Niang combined to make just 4 of 28 threes in the series, missed three more in the first half, then came back to knock down 4 of 7 in the second half, scoring 16 points, grabbing 6 rebounds and dishing out five assists, including a huge find to Evan Mobley late in the game resulting in a dunk.

And Marcus Morris, conspicuous by his absence in meaningful minutes in the series, made a huge contribution with 12 points, including two big threes in the fourth quarter.

The weird part about Morris is after not playing other than in blowout situations, he would up playing the most minutes of any reserve on J.B. Bickerstaff’s bench.

But perhaps the biggest hero was Mobley, who scored two big hoops in the closing minutes and then made the defensive play of the series so far with a block on Franz Wagner’s drive in the closing seconds to seal the win.

Playing without Allen, Mobley was really Cleveland’s only big (why? Ask Koby Altman) and had 14 points and 13 boards on 7 of 11 shooting. Tristan Thompson did play eight minutes, most of them in the first half.

The Cavs should be at the point where they should be tough enough to go into Orlando on Friday night and win on the road, but after Games 3 and 4, it would seem to be a tough ask. Hopefully, Allen will be back for Game 6.

Georges Niang didn’t play Tuesday night, and we hope Bickerstaff goes back to him going forward. We would have put him out there in the first half of Game 5 to see if he could knock down a shot or two before taking him out. To just not play him? That seems a bit harsh.

The best thing the Cavs did in the victory was take care of the ball. After turning it over an average of 15 times per game in the series, they only had 10 on Tuesday.

And the shooting still needs to pick up. Garland has shot well from outside, but the Cavs are still making just 29% from three in the series. Donovan Mitchell is just 8 for 35 (22.9%).

The best path to victory on the road might be for Mitchell to have a huge night, getting it going from outside.

At this point, the Cavaliers only need to get one more win to advance to the second round.

Based on the way the series has been played in Florida, they have to improve greatly to end this series before a win or take all Game 7.

Cavs’ Direction May Depend On Tonight’s Result

Regardless of whether or not the Cleveland Cavaliers win their first round series against the Orlando Magic, it feels like tonight’s Game 5 is a referendum on what the organization has built since LeBron James departed for Los Angeles after the 2018 NBA Finals.

We have not wavered on this, but although we do not think J.B. Bickerstaff is one of the NBA’s best tacticians, part of the problem for the wine and gold is the makeup of the current roster.

We have bemoaned the lack of height for the past two seasons, but it’s not only the tallness of the players, it’s the builds as well. For example, right now Darius Garland and Evan Mobley don’t have the strength to overcome physical play.

Also, the team isn’t mentally tough. They seem to be frontrunners. When things are going well, great, but as soon as something goes wrong, they don’t seem to know how to get things turned around.

And that falls on Koby Altman.

After last season’s playoff loss to the Knicks, Altman looked at the team and decided they needed more shooting, so they signed Max Strus who has one season shooting over 35% from three, and veteran Georges Niang, a career 40% shooter from beyond the arc.

So far in this series, they have made 4 of 28 from long range.

However, we thought at the time the biggest reason for the 4-1 “gentleman’s sweep” by New York last spring was the inability to match the physicalness the Knicks presented. And that was not addressed in the summer, and the two games in Orlando showed the Cavs are still lacking in that department.

Orlando has outrebounded Cleveland in the series after four games, and if the Cavs get to 100 points tonight, it will be for the first time in the series.

The popular thing in NBA circles is when a team loses, the team’s best player is to blame, a theory we do not subscribe to. That isn’t to say Donovan Mitchell has been great in this series, but it’s not as though the coaching staff has done anything to get Mitchell going.

He had a great first half on Saturday, scoring 18 points taking just one three pointer. In the disastrous third quarter, the Cavaliers were outscored 37-10, Mitchell took four shots, three of them from long distance.

When your opponent is on a run, you have to have a set to get your best player a good look. We are still waiting. And by the way, Cleveland’s second-best player, Jarrett Allen, took just two shots.

Meanwhile, Evan Mobley has taken more shots in the series than Darius Garland, a curious statistic. While Garland gives us headaches when he is trying to set up the offense, too much dribbling and very turnover prone, he has been the Cavs’ best three-point shooter in the series, making 9 of 22 (40.9%).

Even if the Cavs win tonight and go on to advance to the second round, these issues aren’t going away, unless Mobley and Garland spend extensive time in the weight room, which we would guess they already do.

As for tonight, let’s hope Bickerstaff is willing to try something different. We would not run away from Strus and/or Niang, but if they aren’t making shots, you have to try Sam Merrill and Marcus Morris, no?

And perhaps use Tristan Thompson up front to provide some muscle, and more resistance to Mo Wagner near the basket.

Orlando has made adjustments to get back in the series. Each of their two best scorers, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner have gone off for 30 points. Now, it’s the Cavaliers’ turn to answer back.

The bigger question is can they?

Cavs’ Second Best Player? It’s Jarrett Allen

Quite frankly, we anticipated a tighter first round series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic, and perhaps now that the series moves to Florida, we may get it.

The Magic have had problems getting any offense outside of their two forwards, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. That pair is scoring 40.5 points per game, while their next three scorers, Jalen Suggs, Mo Wagner, and Gary Harris are combining for just 29 points per game combined.

Meanwhile, the Cavs’ top four scorers, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and Darius Garland have scored 73.5 points per night. Cleveland is getting production from several spots, making them harder to defend.

We made the comment on social media last month that while all the talk regarding the Cavs surrounds the backcourt of Mitchell and Garland, no one has noticed that Allen has become their second best player.

Last year, Allen was much maligned during and after the first round loss to the Knicks, although some of his problems weren’t his fault. New York gathered a ton of offensive rebounds because the big man was helping on penetration by the Knicks’ guards and thus was out of position to grab boards.

Offensively, he was only getting seven shots per game and for the series averaged 9.4 points and just 7.4 rebounds per game, well off the 9.8 he grabbed during the regular season.

This year, Allen added range to his shot, taking more shots in the three to ten foot range and still knocked down 63% of his field goal attempts. He also became more of a playmaker, adding an assist per game to his stats.

His performance this series reinforces our comment that Allen is indeed the second best player wearing the wine and gold. He has been a force in the first two games of the series, scoring 16 points and grabbing 19 caroms in Cleveland, and been a force defensively.

His passing has translated as well, with five assists in the series, tied for third with Max Strus.

The injuries to Mobley and Garland have allowed Allen to blossom as a scorer and passer. He did score 16.1 points a game before Mitchell arrived last season but dropped to 14.3 last year as he was regarded more as a fourth option. Heck, he was fifth in field goal attempts behind 6th man Caris LeVert.

He was still fifth this season, but with Garland missing 25 games, Mobley out for 32 contests, and even Mitchell did not play in 27 games, Allen became more important, especially because he was available, playing 77 games, second to Georges Niang.

No doubt that contributed to Allen’s career high 16.5 scoring average and 819 field goal attempts. We always wondered why the Cavs didn’t get Allen the ball more often because for his career, he has made 63% of his shots.

We understand his range isn’t the same as Mitchell or Garland, but he was still 4th in field goal percentage in the league this year, and was 5th a year ago, and 2nd in 2021-22. When he gets the ball close to the basket, chances are, he will score.

The people who wanted Allen traded a year ago got it wrong. He may not be a three-point threat, but he’s a defensive force who can put the ball in the basket. He’s showing in this series that he’s a winning player too.

Thoughts On A Game One Win For Cavs

The first piece of business for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA playoffs was not to blow the home court advantage after the first game.

They did just that, defeating the Orlando Magic 97-83, to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Orlando shot the ball putridly, making just 32.6% of their shots, and if you take their all-star, Paolo Banchero out of the equation, it was even worse at 27.5%. And even worse, they missed 11 free throws as well.

In essence, they shot the ball like a bunch of guys playing in their first playoff experience would shoot it.

The Cavs’ big men showed up big time in the first game, with Jarrett Allen getting 16 points and grabbing 18 boards, and Evan Mobley knocked down a couple of threes early before operating in the paint with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks.

And of course, Donovan Mitchell led the way offensively, with 30 points on 11 of 21 shooting, and had several key baskets in the paint when the Cleveland offense bogged down.

After having a 53-41 lead at halftime, the Magic turned up the defensive intensity in the third quarter, cutting the advantage to four, but the veterans off the bench, Georges Niang and Caris LeVert, keyed a 13-2 spurt to push the advantage back out to 15 at the end of the third.

Orlando’s top two scorers, Banchero and Franz Wagner combined for a little over half the Magic’s points, but they received little help from the rest of the roster. We don’t think Gary Harris, Joe Ingles, Cole Anthony, and Markelle Fultz will all fail to make a shot like they did yesterday.

As for the Cavs, they knocked down their first five long range shots, but then shot just 3 for 25 the rest of the way. We would expect a better shooting night for the wine and gold from long distance in Game 2 on Monday night.

We were concerned about taking care of the basketball in the series, and they got away with it in Game 1, turning the ball over 17 times against 12 takeaways. They have to do better going forward.

Orlando’s Jalen Suggs harassed Darius Garland, who did knock down a couple of big threes late, but Garland had five turnovers, and we think Suggs thinks he can take the ball from the Cavs’ guard any time has wants to.

J.B. Bickerstaff did play nine men, although Sam Merrill only got four minutes, missing two shots. We hope the coach continues to put Merrill out there. We understand he didn’t hit shots early, but he has the ability to have a different dynamic offensively.

We would also like to see Marcus Morris get some time as well. We know Bickerstaff likes to use just eight players, particularly in the playoffs, but we think Morris can help.

Monday night, we would guess Orlando will shoot better, but on the other hand, the Cavs should be better from behind the arc too.

The Cavaliers out rebounded Orlando 65-53, and if they can continue to control the backboards, they will be just fine. There is no doubt the Magic will make adjustments before Game 2, and we will bet they will put more pressure on the Cleveland ball handlers.

It will be up to the coaching staff to have something else in the bag. Getting the next game puts a ton of pressure on a Magic team with very little experience.