by The Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Orlando Magic, 112-89, in Game 4 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs to pick up their second straight loss. After handling the Magic at home in the first two games of the series, the Cavaliers have looked completely lost on both sides of the ball since heading down to Florida and now find themselves in an even 2-2 series. Here are our biggest takeaways from a brutal weekend.
Jalen Suggs has completely neutralized Donovan Mitchell
When Cleveland won the opening two contests of the series, Mitchell was awesome. The superstar guard was averaging 26.5 points per game and controlling the offense both in transition and in the half court. Then, Orlando head coach Jamahl Mosley adjusted, moving the defensive stalwart Suggs away from Darius Garland and onto Mitchell on a more permanent basis. Let’s just say that was a good move.
Suggs, who has become one of the league’s best defensive guards over the past year, has really bothered Mitchell with his quick hands and ability to stay with the Cavs’ guard with his footwork. Although Gary Harris is a quality defender, Mitchell took full advantage of him with his explosiveness, a tactic that has not worked quite as well on Suggs. Despite being the point guard, Suggs stands at 6’5’’ and is especially aggressive, making it very hard for Mitchell to involve himself either on or off the ball. Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff will have to be clever with his schemes in Game 5 to figure out how to switch Suggs away from Mitchell because if he doesn’t, this series could very easily continue to turn away from Cleveland and furthermore, could cloud Mitchell’s future with the team.
The bench is bad, really bad
It’s become clear that to be a really good team in the playoffs, it’s not essential to have incredible depth. But, between two evenly matched teams in the first round, it can make the difference. Orlando’s bench has outscored Cleveland’s in every game of the series so far, but Saturday’s showing displayed the worst discrepancy so far, as the final tally was 43-15 in favor of the Magic. Both Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz were in double-figures, scoring-wise, for Orlando, with the crazy part being that both of them did it under 20 minutes. Moe Wagner was instrumental as well, scoring seven points as he continues to put his fingerprints all over the series.
The Cavaliers haven’t been able to get anything close to those levels of production, despite certain players playing major roles off the bench. Caris LeVert came in to score an inefficient five points on 25% shooting in 25 total minutes, while Isaac Okoro played 21 minutes and was held scoreless. He didn’t even attempt a shot. Georges Niang played 17 minutes as well and had just two points. Cleveland doesn’t need to have a world-beating bench, just one that at least resembles competency.
What’s happened to the defense?
Speaking of competency, the Cavaliers defense has absolutely fallen off a cliff. After having the seventh-best defensive rating in the league through the regular season, Cleveland stifled Orlando’s sputtering offense in Game’s 1 and 2. The Magic didn’t even get to 90 in either of those games, let alone 100, and shot under 35% from the field. However, Orlando flipped a switch when the series went back to Florida, blitzing the Cavaliers for 121 and 112 in Game’s 3 and 4.
To start, Franz Wagner started to take advantage of the obvious mismatch that being a 6’10’’ small forward creates. With Evan Mobley occupied by Paolo Banchero and Jarrett Allen not mobile enough to keep up, Cleveland had to go with much smaller options. Max Strus, who stands at 6’5’’, struggled to stay with Wagner all day, and Okoro, who is known for his defense, couldn’t do much better when he came in off the bench. Wagner finished with 34 points and 13 rebounds on 76% shooting, a career day for the German international. As far as adjustments go, Cleveland could consider trying to throw Mobley onto Wagner and have Allen guard Banchero. If that happens, Strus would have to guard the center, Wendell Carter Jr., in which case, expect constant double-teams when Carter Jr. gets the ball down low. This would force Orlando to move the ball and beat Cleveland from the outside, a task which could work considering the Magic were 24th in the league in three-point percentage in the regular season.
While Allen’s been a bright spot, where are Garland, Mobley?
Throughout the entire year, Allen has truly been awesome for a Cleveland team that has badly needed him due to injuries. He was the obvious second option when the Cavaliers went on their big winning streak in January (without Garland or Mobley) and his play has not slowed down in the playoffs. Through these four games, Allen is averaging 17.0 points per game and 13.8 rebounds on 67.6% shooting. Cavaliers fans should be grateful that Allen is here, because he has, without a doubt, been the most consistent player on the team thus far.
On the other hand, Garland and Mobley have continued to struggle to find their places in the team. Garland has averaged 12.0 points per game during these playoffs, a whole six points down from his regular season average of 18.0. He’s also shooting a poor 41.9% from the field and looks lost when not the primary ball-handler (a.k.a when Mitchell is also on the floor). Mobley has looked slightly more comfortable, especially early on, but still hasn’t been quite right, especially offensively. He’s averaging 14.3 points and 7.3 rebounds, but his role is murky. In Game 1, he went 2-for-4 from three-point range and followed it up with another one in Game 2, a crucial aspect to his offensive arsenal that Orlando didn’t anticipate. However, in Game 3 he went 0-for-3 and then didn’t even attempt a single one in Game 4. To make his mark on this series, Mobley will have to start being aggressive again, for both his team’s sake, and his future contract’s.
