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.

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.

Watching Summer League Through A Real Lens

The NBA decided this year to award championship rings for the winner of their Summer League, which is akin to giving out a trophy for winning the Cactus League for Major League Baseball.

On one hand, for some of these players, this is the closest they will get to playing in the NBA. And if they win the title, we guess there is a sense of accomplishment and as we always say, winning is better than losing.

But is it really a competition when several teams aren’t even trying to win? The Orlando Magic had the top player taken in this past draft, Paolo Banchero, play two games in Las Vegas, and then decided they had seen enough of the player they hope will be the backbone of their squad the next time they advance to the post-season.

In terms of the Cavaliers, it is great that Ochai Agbaji has played well in the three games the wine and gold’s entry in the league has played. The first-round pick from Kansas scored 24 points last night, hitting 4 of 8 three-point shots.

However, he is likely the only player on this team that will make a meaningful contribution to the 2022-23 edition of the Cavs.

Cleveland’s highest second round pick, Khalifa Diop isn’t playing in the league and supposedly will not be reporting to training camp in the fall. Isaiah Mobley was signed as a two-way player, so he will likely be toiling a lot for the Cleveland Charge, and the last pick, Luke Travers, will be playing in Australia.

We have read some ardent Cavs’ fans touting another two-way player, R.J. Nembhard Jr., who is playing in Vegas, as someone who may be able to contribute to the club this season.

A few weeks ago, we wrote about how the Cavs needed to upgrade the bottom of their roster so they weren’t reliant on guys like Lamar Stevens, Dylan Windler, and Dean Wade to succeed. If we feel that way about those three players, you can understand why we are skeptical about Nembhard Jr.’s prospects of making an impact.

The best players in the league are the first round picks this year coming into the league and the second-year guys who were in the NBA last season, and most of the top rookies from last season aren’t playing in summer.

So, if a player like Agbaji isn’t playing well against this competition, it’s more of a red flag than a great feeling if he plays well. He should be doing good things. He was heralded as someone who could shoot the ball, particularly from distance, and he’s done that.

We haven’t seen anything that wasn’t expected. And that’s a good thing.

In watching the games, we haven’t seen anyone else who can make an impact for a team who should be in a position to make the playoffs next season. In fact, the next best player we’ve seen is Travers, and he’s a developmental player.

While it’s fun to watch and gives hoops junkies actual games to see, the NBA Summer League is a bunch of glorified exhibition games with most of the players being guys you will never hear from again.

Look at it that way, and you won’t fool yourself into overhyping someone.