And That’s The MVP: Orlando at Cleveland, Game 2
- Having slept on it, cooler heads have prevailed. I’m willing to let slide the miss on the technical. It was a bush league move by Mo Williams, Howard was going for all ball, I’m not entirely convinced he made contact, and it should have been a T. But the real point is just that that missed call, one outside of a judment blocking call, or an incorrect out of bounds call, or a false charge, was an obvious failure that directly shifted the course of the game. And that’s upsetting. The officials keep finding new ways to goad me into having to come after them, after I specifically said we shouldn’t. But I’m fine with leaving this game as “LeBron James did something awesome. The end.”
- I still feel the exact same way I felt about this series before Game 2. I expected the Cavs to come out and take care of business in Game 2. Instead they let a team battling foul trouble come back from 23 down to take the lead in the fourth, and needed an amazing shot with one second remaining to split at home. Great win for the Cavs, but just another confidence builder for the Magic. They could have collapsed after the horrendous start. But they scrapped and clawed and gnawed their way back into it. Sometimes James is just going to hit that shot. Sometimes he won’t. The Magic put themselves in a great position to win and the MVP made an incredible shot that only a handful of players in the league can make and head home with one point standing in their way of a road sweep.
- I’d like to say that the Magic desperately need to stop with these horrendous first quarters, but I mean, they had the lead at the end of the game with one second left. They need to stop with slow starts, but is it this huge weakness? This team seems to play a lot better when it’s behind, having to value every possession.
- We’ve had two games with the same formula. Cavs come out looking awesome, yelling, getting open looks, looking dominant. The Magic adjust, chip away, shut down the Cavs, the rest of the Cavs besides James curl up in a ball and die, James has to try and bail them out. He did last night. But if the Magic get another possession in the next games, or if they don’t come out like crap covered bruscetta at home, where are we?
- Maybe you think it’s just a Magic “fan” being partial. Try reading Windhorst this morning.
- I’m not trying to just dog on the Cavs. I thought this was a fantastic team all season. But they’re being exposed a little bit. Sasha Pavlovic? Yeah, he won’t be slicing and dicing in the lane for runners and and-one layups in this series. And I like Z a lot. I think he’s a good guy, a great player, and a solid starting center. But his game is in those 15-18 footers he was hitting, not in the hook shots he was nailing against Howard. Howard’s going to adjust to that.
- Okay, how about some stuff the Cavs did well?
- When they are able to create good looks against the Magic, putting them in a position where they can’t run off the three point shooter, they’re great. That’s only happening about seven times a game, and most of it in the first quarters, but that’s where they can win this series. Demand that the Magic pull everyone at James and then have him kick, THEN rotate the ball again. One drive and kick is not enough to get the Magic too far out to run off the three. The Magic are KILLING themselves to run off the three. Something they learned from a seven game battle with the Celtics versus throwing the Atlanta Hawks in a dumpster and then throwing it off a pier. The Cavs seem remarkably frustrated at not just having open looks, like “Hey! Don’t run at me! Let me shoot!” That’s not going to happen.
- Here’s what’s frustrating about the way the Cavs are having to win these games. It precludes me from being able to discuss how insanely awesome LeBron James is. Inside. Outside. The pull-up turnaround he nailed on Pietrus in the third was one of the most perfect basketball shots I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t pretty like a Kobe turnaround (or Jordan). It was like a ballistic missile. The sound of the net was louder than the crowd. His ability to get from elbow to rim is comparable to a cannonball. There’s just no time. On the charges Orlando drew, they had to have six steps advance warning, and still didn’t get there half the time.
- Howard was limited by foul trouble, mostly because Flopsy Varejao can do two things right in this series. Dunk the ball and fall down. It’s working in Cleveland. If it doesn’t work in Orlando, Howard could have a monster game.
- Delonte West driving could be a big advantage for Cleveland. He doesn’t seem to have the courage to do it. But he’s terrific at avoiding contact and getting a shot off. Which is what you need to do versus HOWARD SMASH. Don’t try and make contact and draw the foul. Don’t “go strong.” Leave that for LBJ. Avoid the contact and get the bucket. You’ll force Howard over, which will open up the weak side and create more opportunities.
- Great example of how badly these matchups are going for Cleveland. The Cavs’ backup big guys have zero offensive moves. Varejao hit what will probably be his only hook of this series. Ben Wallace is Ben Wallace. Meanwhile, Marcin Gortat knows how to work the low pick and roll so well, it’s still mind boggling he doesn’t get more burn. Gortat scored as many points as Wallace and Varejao. In ten minutes.
- Z did a much better job of denying the ball to Howard last night. Granted, most of Howard’s problems were with foul trouble (can a man get some superstar calls here, please?). But Z was fronting and daring the Magic to lob it, which for whatever reason they’re bad at. And by “for whatever reason” I mean “because Jameer Nelson’s shoulder is still four weeks out.”
- Windhorst points out that the Cavs’ best chance is to play the percentages and hope for a Magic cold streak. And that’s really it. If the Magic shoot considerably above their season average, they’ll win easily. If they shoot well below it, they’ll lose easily, and if they shoot around their season average, you have the last two games. That’s got to be terrifying for Cleveland. They still haven’t faced Orlando’s best game yet. That was the team that obliterated them in early April.
- You could make the same statement about the Cavs, except I just never got that feeling. I don’t look at Mo Williams’ shooting sorrows as a slump. It’s the Magic playing great defense (Orlando was #1 in defensive efficiency this season), and forcing them into bad shots. On one possession last night, the Cavs committed to getting a good shot, rotated, rotated, rotated, kept looking for the open three, and the Magic ran it off three times, leading to a shot clock violation. To be fair, the Cavs did the same thing on several possessions, but it seems like the Magic are plotting that, as its part of their strategy, versus Cleveland trying to overcome mismatches with effort. But then, maybe I’ve got magic in my eyes.
- This series likely comes down to the same quandry we’ve long had. Is one, unstoppable, incredible, amazing player greater than a team loaded with weaponry? We know who the league wants to come out of this matchup. No one wants Orlando advancing. It’s bad for ratings, bad for publicity, and leads to the idea that players like Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis and good coaching is better than OMG LEBRON IZ TEH AWESOMEZ. Which is, honestly, probably bad for the health of the league.
- But damn, these Magic just won’t die. James kicked them off last night. But I’ve got a feeling they’re still coming.
