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

[jbk1234]

How come Evan Mobley isn't developing into that guy?

I mean he's 22 years old and missed half the season with injuries, but the Magic having WCJ, Mo Wagner, Issac is tough. Tougher still that they've been allowed to be physical with Mobley in Orlando in a way that the Cavs have not been allowed to be physical with either Banchero or Frantz.

Cavs were allowed to be very physical with Banchero (and other Magic players) without having a foul called on them.

Other than that yeah this is just a tough series to score in for, well, just about everybody. On both sides.

Centers like Allen and WCJ are more physical players who officials tend to allow other teams to be more physical with. That's not Mobley. There were three consecutive plays in the 3rd quarter where Mobley got clearly pushed and two of them were shooting attempts. He hit the deck on all of them. None of them were called. It's not why we lost. We were in Orlando. I expect that not to happen in Cleveland.

[The Real Dalic]

Lol to those acting like it was over and also acting as if the Magic aren't an elite defense. Only a few of those people, but still.

[Residual-Heat]

Refs have largely been consistent not just this series, but across all the play offs IMO

[Rainwater]

Man, the Cavs are not that good. In the first two games they mostly won because the Magic could not score. They really have a hard time getting points, they haven’t scored over 100 in this series. And if Mitchell is not getting points his teammates seem not able to help despite the talent they have.

[JujitsuFlip]

Scoring will be a massive problem regardless of what we do. It’s not like starting washed up Morris over Strus is a move to help our offense. I am saying Tristan would be us leaning all the way into winning games that are played in the 80’s.

Morris is a 40% three point shooter, what do you mean? Having him muck stuff up and beat up on Paolo for 6 fouls allows Mobley to try and contain Franz.

Strus can't guard Franz, especially with the touch fouls he was getting whistled for today.

Paolo would drop 30 on Morris by the time he fouled him out in the 2nd quarter.

Who cares, let him try. Paolo has one of the worst handles in the league, i want him getting into a mental battle with Morris.

Coming into game 5 with zero adjustments is gonna result in a Cavs L too so I'd at least try something else.

Cavs need to try and contain Franz AND Paolo. Not just one or the other.

[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. But with that said, there’s definitely reasons to be very concerned. I’m not even talking in terms of what’s to come next, because I fully expect Cleveland to lose to Boston if they advance. But Mitchell has been pretty bad offensively after the first game where he scored 30. He’s part of the reason as to why we’re losing right now. In my opinion, if this continues, I am still of the belief that he is the one we need to cut ties with, not Garland and sure as hell not Mobley.

Also, I’ve defended Bickerstaff, but this is the second straight playoff series where he’s very clearly getting out coached. It will be third straight if we make it to the second round. And if we somehow make it past Boston, that would be number four. Doesn’t matter how far we make it, the guy needs to go.

Once the Cavs lose this series, he should be fired the same night.

[MagicMatic]

Morris is a 40% three point shooter, what do you mean? Having him muck stuff up and beat up on Paolo for 6 fouls allows Mobley to try and contain Franz.

Strus can't guard Franz, especially with the touch fouls he was getting whistled for today.

Paolo would drop 30 on Morris by the time he fouled him out in the 2nd quarter.

Who cares, let him try. Paolo has one of the worst handles in the league, i want him getting into a mental battle with Morris.

Coming into game 5 with zero adjustments is gonna result in a Cavs L too so I'd at least try something else.

Cavs need to try and contain Franz AND Paolo. Not just one or the other.

wtf happened to Strus? Is the water in Miami just better or something? Seems more like a guy off the bench instead of a starter.

You guys really need wing production outside of Garland and Mitchell. Strus, Niang, and Okoro are just not good.

[miamiheat319]

What the hell happened in that third quarter??

[DowJones]

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. But with that said, there’s definitely reasons to be very concerned. I’m not even talking in terms of what’s to come next, because I fully expect Cleveland to lose to Boston if they advance. But Mitchell has been pretty bad offensively after the first game where he scored 30. He’s part of the reason as to why we’re losing right now. In my opinion, if this continues, I am still of the belief that he is the one we need to cut ties with, not Garland and sure as hell not Mobley.

Also, I’ve defended Bickerstaff, but this is the second straight playoff series where he’s very clearly getting out coached. It will be third straight if we make it to the second round. And if we somehow make it past Boston, that would be number four. Doesn’t matter how far we make it, the guy needs to go.

If we lose Mitchell, where are we going to get offense? I can see trading Mitchell if he refuses to extend, but that is the only reason to trade him.

[Magiclee]

Morris is a 40% three point shooter, what do you mean? Having him muck stuff up and beat up on Paolo for 6 fouls allows Mobley to try and contain Franz.

Strus can't guard Franz, especially with the touch fouls he was getting whistled for today.

Paolo would drop 30 on Morris by the time he fouled him out in the 2nd quarter.

Who cares, let him try. Paolo has one of the worst handles in the league, i want him getting into a mental battle with Morris.

Coming into game 5 with zero adjustments is gonna result in a Cavs L too so I'd at least try something else.

Cavs need to try and contain Franz AND Paolo. Not just one or the other.

The Cavs won two games pretty convincingly doing exactly what they've been doing. There's no reason to panic yet. Make us do it on the road. If we do it for a third time in a row then by all means, change it up. But there's a reason Morris doesn't play much. He's washed. Paolo would devour him and the game might already be over by the time you realize it.

[JujitsuFlip]

Paolo would drop 30 on Morris by the time he fouled him out in the 2nd quarter.

Who cares, let him try. Paolo has one of the worst handles in the league, i want him getting into a mental battle with Morris.

Coming into game 5 with zero adjustments is gonna result in a Cavs L too so I'd at least try something else.

Cavs need to try and contain Franz AND Paolo. Not just one or the other.

wtf happened to Strus? Is the water in Miami just better or something? Seems more like a guy off the bench instead of a starter.

You guys really need wing production outside of Garland and Mitchell. Strus, Niang, and Okoro are just not good.

I think putting Morris in the starting 5 takes pressure off of Strus and he can eat all of Niang's minutes from the bench.

Strus just has no one to guard out there. He can't guard either of Franz or Paolo. But neither can Okoro, plus Okoro refuses to shoot again.

Give me the 6'8" guy who is historically a 40% shooter and his reputation speaks for itself. I want him to get Paolo so frustrated he takes a swing. I want him to make him need an ice bath after game 5. Right now Paolo and Franz feel good going into game 5, they're ready for another blowout win on Tuesday.

Cavs gotta pivot. jb won't because he sucks but any other coach would make adjustments.

[MagicMatic]

Who cares, let him try. Paolo has one of the worst handles in the league, i want him getting into a mental battle with Morris.

Coming into game 5 with zero adjustments is gonna result in a Cavs L too so I'd at least try something else.

Cavs need to try and contain Franz AND Paolo. Not just one or the other.

wtf happened to Strus? Is the water in Miami just better or something? Seems more like a guy off the bench instead of a starter.

You guys really need wing production outside of Garland and Mitchell. Strus, Niang, and Okoro are just not good.

I think putting Morris in the starting 5 takes pressure off of Strus and he can eat all of Niang's minutes from the bench.

Strus just has no one to guard out there. He can't guard either of Franz or Paolo. But neither can Okoro, plus Okoro refuses to shoot again.

Give me the 6'8" guy who is historically a 40% shooter and his reputation speaks for itself. I want him to get Paolo so frustrated he takes a swing. I want him to make him need an ice bath after game 5. Right now Paolo and Franz feel good going into game 5, they're ready for another blowout win on Tuesday.

Cavs gotta pivot. jb won't because he sucks but any other coach would make adjustments.

I guess the idea would be that he gives you more shooting instead of size defensively, but he just hasn’t done that either this series.

[JujitsuFlip]

Paolo would drop 30 on Morris by the time he fouled him out in the 2nd quarter.

Who cares, let him try. Paolo has one of the worst handles in the league, i want him getting into a mental battle with Morris.

Coming into game 5 with zero adjustments is gonna result in a Cavs L too so I'd at least try something else.

Cavs need to try and contain Franz AND Paolo. Not just one or the other.

The Cavs won two games pretty convincingly doing exactly what they've been doing. There's no reason to panic yet. Make us do it on the road. If we do it for a third time in a row then by all means, change it up. But there's a reason Morris doesn't play much. He's washed. Paolo would devour him and the game might already be over by the time you realize it.

No he wouldn't devour him. He would be getting pissed with all the dirty stuff Morris would be doing to him.

And no the Cavs wins were not convincing... Winning by 40 is convincing, not whatever the Cavs did.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Does anyone else think Paolo is showing a little too much reverence to Mobley? He attacks the rim strong all the time but he won't even challenge Mobley. Not sure why.

He had a bad game today but he was all over Mobley last game.

Yeah he had a bad game, but this has been all series long. When he went off it was with fadeaway jumpers. I want to see him put his shoulder into Mobley's chest like Mo's done and take it at him.

Paolo doesn’t really play that way. Yeah, he’ll put his shoulders to his man’s chest and just turn around and try and hit a middy or a long 2. But he’s young, getting to the rim will be part of his shooting repertoire soon.

[JujitsuFlip]

wtf happened to Strus? Is the water in Miami just better or something? Seems more like a guy off the bench instead of a starter.

You guys really need wing production outside of Garland and Mitchell. Strus, Niang, and Okoro are just not good.

I think putting Morris in the starting 5 takes pressure off of Strus and he can eat all of Niang's minutes from the bench.

Strus just has no one to guard out there. He can't guard either of Franz or Paolo. But neither can Okoro, plus Okoro refuses to shoot again.

Give me the 6'8" guy who is historically a 40% shooter and his reputation speaks for itself. I want him to get Paolo so frustrated he takes a swing. I want him to make him need an ice bath after game 5. Right now Paolo and Franz feel good going into game 5, they're ready for another blowout win on Tuesday.

Cavs gotta pivot. jb won't because he sucks but any other coach would make adjustments.

I guess the idea would be that he gives you more shooting instead of size defensively, but he just hasn’t done that either this series.

He hasn't done it all season but jb hasn't ran many actions for him or Merrill (the tiny bit of meaningful minutes he's played) in this seires.

[canada_dry]

I said it in my first comments on this thread and I'll say it again. I don't trust any mitchell lead team in the playoffs. I just don't.

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[canada_dry]

You need a wing, cavs. Go ahead and get miles bridges in that Nets package for mitchell and all of a sudden your team has a lot more balance and Garland is gonna start playing like himself again with the ball in his hands more. The team will be better for it. Mitchell is in new York/brooklyn . Everyone is happy.

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[JujitsuFlip]

You need a wing, cavs. Go ahead and get miles bridges in that Nets package for mitchell and all of a sudden your team has a lot more balance and Garland is gonna start playing like himself again with the ball in his hands more. The team will be better for it. Mitchell is in new York/brooklyn . Everyone is happy.

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Bridges and DFS would be great next to Garland.

Would still have to figure out how to split up Mobley/Allen but Allen's stock is gonna be sky high after this seires, he is head and shoudlers the Cavs best player through 4 games.

[Magiclee]

Who cares, let him try. Paolo has one of the worst handles in the league, i want him getting into a mental battle with Morris.

Coming into game 5 with zero adjustments is gonna result in a Cavs L too so I'd at least try something else.

Cavs need to try and contain Franz AND Paolo. Not just one or the other.

The Cavs won two games pretty convincingly doing exactly what they've been doing. There's no reason to panic yet. Make us do it on the road. If we do it for a third time in a row then by all means, change it up. But there's a reason Morris doesn't play much. He's washed. Paolo would devour him and the game might already be over by the time you realize it.

No he wouldn't devour him. He would be getting pissed with all the dirty stuff Morris would be doing to him.

And no the Cavs wins were not convincing... Winning by 40 is convincing, not whatever the Cavs did.

A pissed off Paolo is the last thing you want. If they're both on, you're toast. There's nothing you can do. You can't guard them both. But they're young and can be inconsistent. Your best bet is to put Mobley on Paolo and make Franz do this again. He looked like last year's Franz today. He hasn't looked like that much this year.

[JonFromVA]

Pacers have the 24th ranked defense, scoring against them wasn't gonna be the issue. jb was gonna get outcoahced by Carlisle but it is moot bc he's being outcoahced by Mosley.

It's an issue when Mitchell and Garland stink and our shooters can't shoot. Jbbs inability to adjust in game sure sucks too.

I mean we've played the Pacers, the Friday before the playoffs started in a game they wanted badly, and we had no problem scoring. We played the Pacers in March without Mitchell, and had no problem scoring. It's not hard to score against teams who don't have impressive defenses.

We averaged 112 .vs. the Magic in the regular season for all the good that did us. We scored 60 in the first half today and still found a way to not break 100.

Sure smells like good game plan followed by an inability to adjust after Orlando talked things over at the half. Amateur hour on the bench and from the supposed floor leaders.