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The venue shifts to Orlando with both teams getting two days off to rest, break down film, have a practice or two, and make adjustments. So far the series has gone exactly as expected involving two teams who are very strong defensively but have offensive shortcomings.
The Cavs took the first two in Cleveland by the nearly identical scores of 97-83 and 96-86. Their game plan was to defend the paint (the Magic led the NBA in percentage of shots taken at the rim) and force them to shoot mid-range or 3-pointers, where they ranked 25th and 27th in shooting percentage. It’s working beautifully.
The Magic have gone 11-for-44 on “wide open” shots, where the nearest defender is at least six feet away. The question is whether that will continue now that they will be in a familiar environment for the next couple of games.
The Magic were 29-12 at home and 18-23 away so they should be a much better team over the next two games. It will be interesting to see what adjustments they make to their offense as they simply can’t expect to win the series scoring in the low 80’s. In four halves they have scored between 41-44 points each half which is amazingly consistent. And totally insufficient.
The Cavaliers need to get their offense going. They are shooting 43% overall and 29% on 3’s. Niang and Strus have combined to go 2-for-18 on 3’s. Mitchell is only 5-for-18. They are also averaging 16 turnovers per game. Between the poor shooting and the high rate of turnovers the Cavs have scored just 96 and 97 points, which normally won’t get it done.
Fortunately they are playing a team they match up very well with, which was their plan when they tanked the last game of the regular season.
The question is whether the Magic have any answers. They can’t make Allen and Mobley go away. They could try taking more outside shots but they’re not good at hitting them. Their strength on offense is all inside which corresponds to the strength of the Cavs’ defense. This is just like last year when the Cavs did not have the outside shooting to counter the Knicks’ airtight interior defense.
The Cavs are winning with great interior defense, so-so offense, tremendous rebounding (didn’t see that coming!), and bad outside shooting by Orlando. Credit Orlando in part for the Cavs’ poor shooting percentages; the Magic are very long and they are playing hard and physical. They were the league’s best defensive team since the break.
If the Cavs continue to play great defense in the paint and the Magic continue to brick away from the outside the series will continue down its current path. I won’t be surprised if the Magic shoot more mid-range shots; Banchero in particular has been very effective on those. Better to hit a jumper from the foul line than miss a 3-pointer.
The Magic are shooting an incomprehensible 34.3% from the field and 23.6% on 3’s. I can’t believe those numbers will continue to be that bad. But the Cavs shot 39.6% on 3’s in the four regular season games against Orlando so I expect their 3-point shooting to improve as well. Niang can't go 0-for-the-series, right? Maybe?
Paolo Banchero has 18 field goals and 15 turnovers. I expect he’ll improve on that ratio from here on out. He’s not helping them much.
Orlando’s guards (Harris, Suggs, Anthony, Ingles, and Fultz) are averaging a combined 22 points per game, which comes out to 4.4 points each. Franz Wagner is shooting just 37.5% from the field.
I don’t know if the Magic are capable of changing anything. They might have to just keep plugging away and hope those wide open 3’s start falling.
The Cavs took the first two in Cleveland by the nearly identical scores of 97-83 and 96-86. Their game plan was to defend the paint (the Magic led the NBA in percentage of shots taken at the rim) and force them to shoot mid-range or 3-pointers, where they ranked 25th and 27th in shooting percentage. It’s working beautifully.
The Magic have gone 11-for-44 on “wide open” shots, where the nearest defender is at least six feet away. The question is whether that will continue now that they will be in a familiar environment for the next couple of games.
The Magic were 29-12 at home and 18-23 away so they should be a much better team over the next two games. It will be interesting to see what adjustments they make to their offense as they simply can’t expect to win the series scoring in the low 80’s. In four halves they have scored between 41-44 points each half which is amazingly consistent. And totally insufficient.
The Cavaliers need to get their offense going. They are shooting 43% overall and 29% on 3’s. Niang and Strus have combined to go 2-for-18 on 3’s. Mitchell is only 5-for-18. They are also averaging 16 turnovers per game. Between the poor shooting and the high rate of turnovers the Cavs have scored just 96 and 97 points, which normally won’t get it done.
Fortunately they are playing a team they match up very well with, which was their plan when they tanked the last game of the regular season.
The question is whether the Magic have any answers. They can’t make Allen and Mobley go away. They could try taking more outside shots but they’re not good at hitting them. Their strength on offense is all inside which corresponds to the strength of the Cavs’ defense. This is just like last year when the Cavs did not have the outside shooting to counter the Knicks’ airtight interior defense.
The Cavs are winning with great interior defense, so-so offense, tremendous rebounding (didn’t see that coming!), and bad outside shooting by Orlando. Credit Orlando in part for the Cavs’ poor shooting percentages; the Magic are very long and they are playing hard and physical. They were the league’s best defensive team since the break.
If the Cavs continue to play great defense in the paint and the Magic continue to brick away from the outside the series will continue down its current path. I won’t be surprised if the Magic shoot more mid-range shots; Banchero in particular has been very effective on those. Better to hit a jumper from the foul line than miss a 3-pointer.
The Magic are shooting an incomprehensible 34.3% from the field and 23.6% on 3’s. I can’t believe those numbers will continue to be that bad. But the Cavs shot 39.6% on 3’s in the four regular season games against Orlando so I expect their 3-point shooting to improve as well. Niang can't go 0-for-the-series, right? Maybe?
Paolo Banchero has 18 field goals and 15 turnovers. I expect he’ll improve on that ratio from here on out. He’s not helping them much.
Orlando’s guards (Harris, Suggs, Anthony, Ingles, and Fultz) are averaging a combined 22 points per game, which comes out to 4.4 points each. Franz Wagner is shooting just 37.5% from the field.
I don’t know if the Magic are capable of changing anything. They might have to just keep plugging away and hope those wide open 3’s start falling.
