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This game needs to settle down before there is a brawl.

Cavaliers open the series with a 14 point win.

Not pretty, but they got it done.

j/c...

Took the fam to the game today and had a great time! I was telling the kiddos I was headed to Vegas before too long, so Rish could treat me to either Joel Robuchon or Kaiseki Yuzu for an exquisite meal.

Well the first one is out of the way, that was an ugly game, tons of whistles, huge stretches where i wasn't sure if I was watching a playoff game or a YMCA rec league game. Orlando is bad, that effort won't work against pretty much anyone else. Thank god for mitchell.. but Niang and strus....painful, Garland made a couple good shots at the end but for the most part showed he's not a piece that we need to hold on to if it comes down to keeping mitchell or not. Allen was active and played pretty well, Mobley's stats were a bit misleading, he had stretches of offense but his defense consistently was out of position and late on rotating sometimes. Hopefully thats more of him just working himself back. Lavert needs to be getting minutes over Niang and Strus.. I don't understand JB's rotations sometimes. I think the key is stop sticking with bad rotations too long, JB is notorious for this.. we blew several large leads with bad personnel groups. I think first game was alot of pressure for the Cavs based on last year. All eyes were on them to see if they've gotten over it. I anticipate the pressure is off a bit and they can play looser. I think they played tight the whole game.. That would explain there record setting horrific 3pt shooting. Thats def not the norm for them and I attribute it to just being amped up and playing too tight. I think we will sweep Orlando, they have a couple nice pieces and they are coached very well but they just don't match up well and are extremely young. Hope I can get to a game when they come down here.

Cavs up 2-0.

For The Land!

Get out your broom! Gonna have to go find it. Been awhile. . . .

Go, Cavs!

j/c...

The win was assured when Red Panda made her appearance!...

Were you at the game again?

Not tonight. I would have liked to have been though!

Maybe the Cavs have found that magic they possessed before the all-star break.

How did Orlando get the five seed?

They have next to no talent on that team.

They are getting run out of the gym. Cavs ain’t going anywhere. Still no playmakers or coach

Can we fire JB in the playoffs? That performance was atrocious. Happy the draft was on at least.

JB and Altman both need to go.. Get someone in here that can build a mentally tough team.. This team just don't have it between the ears and guys like Garland, Niang, and Strus just stealing money

This team is a joke. The best thing long term that can happen is they lose this series, blow it up and get someone competent in charge. I can’t watch another season with Mobley garland Strus Niang and JB coaching. Just horrible being worked over by a bad team

j/c...

Impressive feat!

The Cavs are really bad. Problems are in this order 1) JB, 2) lack of development of Mobley, 3) lack of development of Garland, and 4) Garlands inability to perform in the clutch.

There is next to no talent on the Magic. They are a symbol of the current state of the
NBA, a very poor product. You want to drop game 3 to that team, fine. A lot of 4 game series go that way. But to drop game 4 when you are clearly the more talented team by a country mile because you are poorly coached and play with no toughness or heart is something else.

Hopefully they lose the series so the org can get on with blowing it up.

that was EMBARRASSING

Lol man.... that had to be the worst 2nd half of basketball I've ever seen.

I think Altman is good. I wouldn't want to lose him because of a inferior coach.

And crippling to watch. Painful for true fans. I can't believe that I watched us blow about a ten point lead again and lose by 20+. We left many of the same folks out there; second game of missing tons of threes. Our coaches watched it again with many of the same people left out there. We did some damage in the paint and forcing the ball to the rim. And stopped. We are lazy getting back. This next game will probably be more of the same. Saw some real quit today.

I don't think Altman or JB will be here next year. But I kinda hope we get rid of Mitchell and recoup some of that draft capital. Its clear he's doesn't have that dawg in him.. He's a very talented player but for what we gave up for him he should be carrying this team in the playoffs and he's just following suit and giving up. Say what you want about the supporting cast, thats what they are, he should be setting the tone, especially when things get bad.. I loved watching him play during the regular season the last two years, but some guys just don't have that extra come playoff time. Thats what we need for what we have invested. Swap out mitchell for 40 year old lebron and we already swept these guys. I really am torn if I want them to win this series, the fan in me does, but the logical side of me knows that the longer we delay this, the more mediocrity in the future. Altman has been in the role for 7 years.. its time for someone else to come in.

I disagree about Mitchell. He has that dawg. I don’t think he believes in JB or his teammates and it wears him down.

What we are seeing is the result of the participation trophy era of JB. Bring a hard nosed coach in and I think you’ll see a different Mitchell.

Mitchell is a dawg? He's a two. Not the superstar we were hoping he would turn into. Dawgs do not no-show in the playoffs. It's a bummer.

Shaq saw this years ago in Mitchell. Mitchell looks like he's about to cry.

think of some of the coaches lebron had... he didn't let that stop him from putting team on his back in playoffs.. Mitchell has had 2 years and done nothing.. hes not that guy... Good piece, but not the alpha a playoff team needs

I’m going to disagree with you and Milk. Mitchell either doesn’t want to be here and it’s affecting him mentally and/or he doesn’t believe in the coach/team and it’s affecting him mentally.

Maybe that doesn’t put him on Lebrons level because he should be able to put that all aside but I think he’s a top 10-12 player in the league and with the right coach and team around him we should be making eastern conference finals.

I would file this under careful what you wish for if we are thinking we can trade him and the team will reload and be good.

tonight's game is a chance to save something ... interested to see how it transpires

I am going to offer the theory that the issue is Garland.

When Garland and Mobley were out for a couple weeks we were almost unbeatable. I think the issue is that Garland and Mitchell do not mesh well on the floor. And that JB is too weak of a HC to sit Garland and play the better team instead of the bigger names.

Mitchell is a very good player (particularly in the regular season) and if they keep him or he stays, wonderful. He's just not a guy that will lead a team to a championship or a guy you build a championship team around. He's a great two to a true number one on a championship caliber team. Comparing him to Bron Bron isn't a fair comparison and should not be done. I put Mitchell in the top 15-20 range.

From Jason Lloyd's article in The Athletic...

I think my colleague, Joe Vardon, covered a lot of the Donovan Mitchell component following Game 4. Here’s the only thing I’ll add: The advanced metrics on Mitchell in the playoffs the last three years are jarring. His net rating over those postseasons combined is a minus-19.5. This isn’t just the knee, folks. The whole thing is inexplicable. His offensive rating during the 2020 bubble playoffs was 122.6. His offensive rating in the 2021 postseason was 124. That’s all excellent.

But over the last three postseasons, Mitchell’s offensive rating in consecutive years is 107.3, 106.1 and this year it has sunk to an even 100 through four games. His rating throughout the past few regular seasons has hovered around 117.

Offensive rating is a great metric because it removes variables like usage rate and minutes on the floor. It standardizes all players to simply how productive they were per 100 possessions, and scoring 100 points per 100 possessions is very much abysmal in the NBA. An offensive rating of 100 during the regular season would tie him for 503rd in the league with Toronto’s Ron Harper Jr. and Oklahoma City’s Keyontae Johnson.

His net rating this series is minus-8.6, which ties him with … Max Strus (hoo boy).

If he wasn’t the same way before he came here then I’d agree. But Shaq called him out for it when he played in Utah. Like I said before , I think he’s a good player, he just doesn’t have that playoff mode. We don’t have a guy that has proven they can elevate in playofffs.

I said this when he was out. That it’s obvious Mobley/garland don’t fit with current scheme and personnel . You can’t have a PG that is that careless . He needs to be moved

Role players had big nights. Hopefully close this series out in six.

Mobley with the defensive play of the game.



Go Cavs!

Ok I might have to start agreeing with you and lead.

Pathetic performance tonight.

you ask anyone outside of orlando to name one person on the magic I'd bet youd have a hard time finding someone that can.. This team is soft, going down to the wire against them just isn't good.. Mitchell does not have a clutch bone in his body, Garland did 99 percent of his scoring in the first quarter.. we got beat up around the rim on defense. But the role players did come to play. Mitchell had the ugliest 28 points I think Ive ever seen.. he was not good yet again. Had the worst +/- of anyone on the court for either team. Banchero just destroyed whoever we tried to put on him. Strus made some big shots down the stretch and so did Mobley who was invisible most of the night unless it was his face in someones nuts as he was being rebounded over but he still pulled down a double double so I can't hate the effort, just didn't seem to be impactful if that makes sense... dude needs about 20lbs of muscle. I really liked Morris out there instead of niang. Okoro is such a bust.. I can't get over how he keeps getting minutes down the stretch.. This team missed allen big time on the boards. Hopefully his midol comes in and he can play for game 6. The basketball fan in me really enjoyed a close game tonight, but the cavs fan and me couldn't help but think there's no way we should be having this much trouble with the magic. This much I know, I'd trade Banchero for Mobley straight up. His scoring could really help and you wouldn't have to keep clogging the lane with allen/mobley fighting over boards. If Tristian Thompson never plays another minute it will be too soon. He's done. Morris is basically Thompson but with Offense. I have a feeling game 6 is going to be a blowout, one way or another. Last chance hopefully for Mitchell to prove he's the guy.. I think most of our guys are struggling with the physicality of the playoffs. Like last year against the Knicks didn't prepare them at all and they are still surprised by it

Great play! Fun game to watch down the stretch.

big W for the Cavs especially without Allen

Also .. what a performance by Maxey!

Well can't blame mitchell tonight.. he did everything he could and did it while hurt... its scrubs like Mobley, strus, niang, thompson, okoro that hurt..same as always.. garland is a borderline bust, Mobley and okoro are busts, Thompson is the worst basketball player in my lifetime..how he ended up back here is beyond me. Mobley will get you a couple blocks but he gives up EVERYTHING and can't score, rebound or pass.. don't even think of asking him to defend. And some of the worst rotations I've seen since my sons YMCA teams.. JB has to go, so does altman, they need to clean this roster up and get some people in here that can play and play alot tougher.. Talking to you Allen...what a wuss. I hate this team.. I hope they get blown out at home to close it out...worst thing at this point would be we win the series and this staff gets another year