2024 NBA Playoffs - East 1st Round: #4 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #5 Orlando Magic (CLE WINS 4-3)

[basketballRob]

Whoever wins game 5 usually wins the series.

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[JJ_PR]

The Magic are a very nice squad. They have two legit stars in Paolo & Franz and surrounded them with solid role players.

Weirdly enough, they would've benefited from drafting Gradey Dick instead of Jett Howard. They could certainly use his shooting and the Anthony Black, Gradey Dick ordeal would've been hilarious.

I still have faith in my Cavs. They just didn't play with confidence, but if they get that confidence back, they will be in the second round.

[Residual-Heat]

The Magic are a very nice squad. They have two legit stars in Paolo & Franz and surrounded them with solid role players.

Weirdly enough, they would've benefited from drafting Gradey Dick instead of Jett Howard. They could certainly use his shooting and the Anthony Black, Gradey Dick ordeal would've been hilarious.

I still have faith in my Cavs. They just didn't play with confidence, but if they get that confidence back, they will be in the second round.

Not if you're a Magic fan and had to hear those jokes everyday

The FO felt like Howard has a higher ceiling, and he projects to be a great shooter. He was shooting like 38% from 3 on near 10 threes per game in the g-league. Howard will get playing time next season, and we will see if they made the right choice.

[JujitsuFlip]

To be clear, this is still Cleveland’s series to lose. The fact of the matter is, Orlando did not once lead at any point in games one and two. Cleveland can at least say they did at Orlando, hell they had the lead going into the half.

As long as Cleveland’s still got homecourt, there’s no reason to panic.

It’s a completely different game than G1/G2.

Mosley adjusted. Swapped Isaac w/ Carter in the starting lineup.

Also as Keith Smith also mentioned, the Magic have brought their screeners for Paolo Banchero & Franz Wagner up close to halfcourt. It's causing the Cavs to defend in a lot of space and Orlando is starting to get downhill off those screens.

Orlando has now found their shooting rhythm.

Chess not checkers. Playoffs are all about the small adjustments and it seems as Mosley is winning in that matchup.

That’s great and all, but we saw how Orlando shoots on the road. They’re going to have to find a way to overcome that. It’s definitely possible, but as I said, this is still Cleveland’s series to lose.

I can appreciate the confidence but it is not at all warranted after getting spanked by 38 points and 23 points in a 44 hour period.

[basketballRob]

Hopefully, the Cavs fans will behave in Cleveland. Stories are going around about how some of the Magic fans were treated at the games up there. I don't think it's helpful for them to rile the crowd up against the Wagners because they went to Michigan. One fan got ejected for taunting Franz in game 2. They were posting Michigan on the scoreboard every time Moe checked in.

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[Iwasawitness]

It’s a completely different game than G1/G2.

Mosley adjusted. Swapped Isaac w/ Carter in the starting lineup.

Also as Keith Smith also mentioned, the Magic have brought their screeners for Paolo Banchero & Franz Wagner up close to halfcourt. It's causing the Cavs to defend in a lot of space and Orlando is starting to get downhill off those screens.

Orlando has now found their shooting rhythm.

Chess not checkers. Playoffs are all about the small adjustments and it seems as Mosley is winning in that matchup.

That’s great and all, but we saw how Orlando shoots on the road. They’re going to have to find a way to overcome that. It’s definitely possible, but as I said, this is still Cleveland’s series to lose.

I can appreciate the confidence but it is not at all warranted after getting spanked by 38 points and 23 points in a 44 hour period.

Cleveland was clearly better at home. Orlando was clearly better at home. I have every reason right now to believe Cleveland will take game 5 in the same fashion they did in games 1 and 2. Granted, they have some issues to figure out (they’ve lost out on their major rebounding advantage after Orlando shifted WCJ back to the starting unit), but tad long as Orlando can’t find their shooting, they’re going to continue to have the same issues as before. I could absolutely be wrong, but still.

[JujitsuFlip]

That’s great and all, but we saw how Orlando shoots on the road. They’re going to have to find a way to overcome that. It’s definitely possible, but as I said, this is still Cleveland’s series to lose.

I can appreciate the confidence but it is not at all warranted after getting spanked by 38 points and 23 points in a 44 hour period.

Cleveland was clearly better at home. Orlando was clearly better at home. I have every reason right now to believe Cleveland will take game 5 in the same fashion they did in games 1 and 2. Granted, they have some issues to figure out (they’ve lost out on their major rebounding advantage after Orlando shifted WCJ back to the starting unit), but tad long as Orlando can’t find their shooting, they’re going to continue to have the same issues as before. I could absolutely be wrong, but still.

After the 2 beat downs i think you are absolutely wrong.

jb needs to make adjustments and he's not going to.

Mosely has at minimum made 3 adjustments in this series and none of em really that complex. Swapping a guy into his starting 5, starting the PnR action higher on offense, and switching the PnR coverage on defense.

[Iwasawitness]

I can appreciate the confidence but it is not at all warranted after getting spanked by 38 points and 23 points in a 44 hour period.

Cleveland was clearly better at home. Orlando was clearly better at home. I have every reason right now to believe Cleveland will take game 5 in the same fashion they did in games 1 and 2. Granted, they have some issues to figure out (they’ve lost out on their major rebounding advantage after Orlando shifted WCJ back to the starting unit), but tad long as Orlando can’t find their shooting, they’re going to continue to have the same issues as before. I could absolutely be wrong, but still.

After the 2 beat downs i think you are absolutely wrong.

jb needs to make adjustments and he's not going to.

Mosely has at minimum made 3 adjustments in this series and none of em really that complex. Swapping a guy into his starting 5, starting the PnR action higher on offense, and switching the PnR coverage on defense.

Your point is valid… but again, Orlando just hasn’t been a good road team this year. I trust Cleveland’s play more than them to get the job done on their home turf.

Let me be clear: I kind of want to be wrong. Before, I would have been extremely upset if we were a first round exit again. But the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to realize that in order for us to truly go somewhere and fully utilize the great talents we do have, it has to be abundantly clear to the people in charge that the way we are running things just isn’t working and that serious changes need to be made.

The Knicks series gave us an easy out. There’s no excuses here if we lose to Orlando.

But again, I just don’t see them being this good on the road, where they have been pathetic.

[RookieStar]

Wow. Props to my team. They made 1 more win than i had hoped for this POs.

[jbk1234]

If the Cavs go down 3-2, I think Dean Wade will play.

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I think the team quits on JBB if they lose at home so I'd hope that the front office steps in and says no at that point. Also, this isn't a situation where he's been practicing and is almost there.

[basketballRob]

If the Cavs go down 3-2, I think Dean Wade will play.

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I think the team quits on JBB if they lose at home so I'd hope that the front office steps in and says no at that point. Also, this isn't a situation where he's been practicing and is almost there.

I don't think they anticipated the Magic giving them a series. I know Cleveland wasn't healthy in the games that we played this year, but Isaac missed 3, Fultz missed 4, and Gary Harris missed 2.

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[JujitsuFlip]

Cleveland was clearly better at home. Orlando was clearly better at home. I have every reason right now to believe Cleveland will take game 5 in the same fashion they did in games 1 and 2. Granted, they have some issues to figure out (they’ve lost out on their major rebounding advantage after Orlando shifted WCJ back to the starting unit), but tad long as Orlando can’t find their shooting, they’re going to continue to have the same issues as before. I could absolutely be wrong, but still.

After the 2 beat downs i think you are absolutely wrong.

jb needs to make adjustments and he's not going to.

Mosely has at minimum made 3 adjustments in this series and none of em really that complex. Swapping a guy into his starting 5, starting the PnR action higher on offense, and switching the PnR coverage on defense.

Your point is valid… but again, Orlando just hasn’t been a good road team this year. I trust Cleveland’s play more than them to get the job done on their home turf.

Let me be clear: I kind of want to be wrong. Before, I would have been extremely upset if we were a first round exit again. But the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to realize that in order for us to truly go somewhere and fully utilize the great talents we do have, it has to be abundantly clear to the people in charge that the way we are running things just isn’t working and that serious changes need to be made.

The Knicks series gave us an easy out. There’s no excuses here if we lose to Orlando.

But again, I just don’t see them being this good on the road, where they have been pathetic.

I honestly don't even think a series loss forces a head coach change. Koby is too comfortable in his job, he has no reason to fire jb.

Literally Gilbert will have to step in and clear house, starting with Koby and jb. And I'm not sure Gilbert cares all that much since his stroke and his son passing.

I think win or lose the series, the Cavs are stuck with jb the wet paper bag.

[Iwasawitness]

After the 2 beat downs i think you are absolutely wrong.

jb needs to make adjustments and he's not going to.

Mosely has at minimum made 3 adjustments in this series and none of em really that complex. Swapping a guy into his starting 5, starting the PnR action higher on offense, and switching the PnR coverage on defense.

Your point is valid… but again, Orlando just hasn’t been a good road team this year. I trust Cleveland’s play more than them to get the job done on their home turf.

Let me be clear: I kind of want to be wrong. Before, I would have been extremely upset if we were a first round exit again. But the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to realize that in order for us to truly go somewhere and fully utilize the great talents we do have, it has to be abundantly clear to the people in charge that the way we are running things just isn’t working and that serious changes need to be made.

The Knicks series gave us an easy out. There’s no excuses here if we lose to Orlando.

But again, I just don’t see them being this good on the road, where they have been pathetic.

I honestly don't even think a series loss forces a head coach change. Koby is too comfortable in his job, he has no reason to fire jb.

Literally Gilbert will have to step in and clear house, starting with Koby and jb. And I'm not sure Gilbert cares all that much since his stroke and his son passing.

I think win or lose the series, the Cavs are stuck with jb the wet paper bag.

There’s no way JB stays. Cleveland has a history of firing head coaches pretty frequently. It’s honestly shocking JB has been around this long, but it makes sense considering how Cleveland’s improvement started under him.

[firedavidkahn]

I haven't seen a single second of this series but what the heck is up with Cleveland's offense?

THey haven't even broken 100 points in any game so far and below 90 twice.

More Magic playing great defense or CLeveland just sucking?

[eyriq]

The Cavs have a Mobley problem.

[MagicMatic]

I haven't seen a single second of this series but what the heck is up with Cleveland's offense?

THey haven't even broken 100 points in any game so far and below 90 twice.

More Magic playing great defense or CLeveland just sucking?

yes.

[durden_tyler]

"The Most Boring Series of the First Round" a.k.a. Orlando vs Cleveland might be the only one going full seven games.

[JujitsuFlip]

I haven't seen a single second of this series but what the heck is up with Cleveland's offense?

THey haven't even broken 100 points in any game so far and below 90 twice.

More Magic playing great defense or CLeveland just sucking?

yes.

Hahaha i was gonna say a bit of both but it's the same thing from the Knicks series last year and the play-in fiasco of 2022.

[SS_MagicMark]

Hopefully, the Cavs fans will behave in Cleveland. Stories are going around about how some of the Magic fans were treated at the games up there. I don't think it's helpful for them to rile the crowd up against the Wagners because they went to Michigan. One fan got ejected for taunting Franz in game 2. They were posting Michigan on the scoreboard every time Moe checked in.

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Do they heckle LeVert, too?

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[SOUL]

The Cavs have a Mobley problem.

I don't think it's Mobley specific but they really needed Dean Wade in this series to pull whoever we have at PF out. All of their PF options right now are too small so that it may get punished defensively without an obvious offensive upside yet. Will be interesting to see what they do to counter it.

Right now with Isaac back to the bench, the Magic seem willing to let JA/Mobley get some inside shots over WCJ/Moe with less resistance, as long as we're blitzing Mitchell/Garland and not letting Strus get easy open looks. So our 1-4 are able to switch and play aggressive very freely in both lineups now with Isaac unleashed at the 4 and our rebounding being improved a bit too.