ORLANDO, Fla. — The Cleveland Cavaliers’ goal is, of course, to win Game 6, not just to avoid further embarrassment on the road.
There are emotional and technical elements to doing both – emerging from the rubble of losing to the Orlando Magic by a combined 61 points in the previous two games of this series held at the Kia Center, winning on Friday and advancing to an Eastern Conference semifinal Sunday against the Boston Celtics.
Emotional disappointments, at least in the Magic building, have been harder to avoid for the Cavs than for Franz Wagner. In Games 3 and 4, at key moments when Orlando raised its level of play and the home crowd engaged, Cleveland’s players wilted, flashed and fell short of Try the challenge.
Cavs players were thrown out of position on offense, and defenders fell backwards and sideways as they were hit in the chest while charging forward against Magic (and strong guard Jalen Suggs).
So, before considering roster adjustments and strategy, the Cavs need to behave as if they are aware that the playoffs are taking place in two arenas, not just the comfortable confines of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, where Cleveland has won a 5-game thriller, 104-103. , Tuesday.
“The most important thing is just the effort we made tonight, understanding that these shots that we made, these runs that we made, there is no noise, nothing wait (Friday in Orlando),” Donovan Mitchell said Tuesday night. “We have to stay together as a group and, you know, I think going out there and knowing what’s going to happen, knowing who they are out there as a team, we have to be locked in.” We must stay together. And I have no doubt that we will.
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What is Mitchell supposed to say, as far as trusting that the Cavs won’t give in again under the same conditions that crushed them in Orlando before?
In Game 3, which became the Cavs’ most lopsided loss in playoff history (38 points), the Magic took their first lead of the series at 5:27 in the first quarter on a 3- points from Paolo Banchero. Banchero drained another with 2:12 left to break the tie, and Orlando never trailed again. Cleveland’s deficit was 10 in about two minutes, 15 at 9:24 in the second quarter and 21 with 4:11 left before halftime.
Mitchell and Darius Garland, the Cavs’ leading scorers all season, each scored two points in the first. Garland finished with five (!), and Mitchell wasn’t much better with 13 points. Game 4 was much better, for one half, before Cleveland played one of its worst quarters in playoff history in the third. Mitchell was held scoreless in the second half. A nine-point halftime lead turned into a 21-point loss, which wasn’t that close.
Garland was a totally different player to start Game 5 on Tuesday, with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting. He would be the first adjustment Cleveland could make this time, although it always tends to land more on the emotional side than the technical side. . Garland can take the same shoot-first mentality into Game 6.
“The rim started to look big to me, a little bit,” Garland said after Game 5. “I think our guys are built for those moments.”
Mitchell dominated the fourth quarter of Game 5, scoring 14 of his 28 points with nine successful free throws (he missed a 10th attempt). Should the Cavs reach the fourth quarter of Game 6 with a chance to win, Mitchell will have the opportunity to close out, as superstars with max contracts and All-Star nods often do. It would be a repeat of what he did for Cleveland in Game 5, an effort coupled with Evan Mobley’s terrific block on Wagner’s layup try with about six seconds left that won the game.
The other major adjustment the Cavs can make from Game 4 to Game 6 (since we’re talking about what needs to be different for Cleveland on the road) was made Tuesday out of necessity.
Jarrett Allen, the Cavs’ center and most consistent player in the series, had his right rib “punctured,” according to a team source, by a Wagner elbow in Game 4 and was unable to play in of game 5.
When the Cavs are missing Allen or Mobley in the starting lineup, they tend to play smaller, with four guards/wings around the big man available. Playing this way for two months earlier this season, when Mobley was out, the Cavs had the best record in the NBA and were the best 3-point shooting team in the league during that stretch.
It’s no coincidence that Game 5, with a starting lineup of Mitchell, Garland, Max Strus, Isaac Okoro and Mobley, was the Cavs’ best offense of the series. It’s easier for them to reach 40 3-point attempts, there’s more space for Mitchell and Garland to get into the paint and there’s no pressure for Mobley to go to the corner and try to shoot a 3 – which is the case when playing with Allen. The bigger lineup requires one of the big men to gravitate around the perimeter to create more space for the guards, and it won’t be Allen.
The Magic didn’t adjust immediately, were confused by Cleveland’s floor spacing and held on thanks to an outstanding performance from Banchero (39 points).
“The spacing is what’s different, longer rotations,” Mitchell said. “Jonathan Isaac, for example, now comes from the corner instead of helping (when the Cavs have Mobley and Allen on the court). …It’s a game of thumbs. …Having a guy like Jonathan Isaac or Wendell Carter having to come from the wing or the corner, now you make that pass and catch them in the middle of the rotations, it’s just a game changer.
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Allen was back on the field Thursday for light work in practice, but his availability for Game 5 is in question. He’s averaging 17 points and nearly 14 rebounds, and has certainly done nothing to lose his starting spot. Plus, for what it’s worth, when Mobley returned from knee surgery in February, the Cavs immediately inserted him back into the starting lineup. They have shown no appetite for making the incredibly difficult decision to play one of their big starting players off the bench in order to maintain the attacking style of play that is clearly best for the team this season.
And yet, Allen’s injury presents an opportunity to do just that — at least for Game 6. If Allen is available to play Friday, the Cavs could easily say (and wouldn’t even have to make it up) that Allen is available but limited. by injury. They could start Mobley and bring in Allen in his place, with the possibility of pairing them up if the Magic adjust correctly or if the fourth quarter calls for more defense than offense.
It would be a bold move, but nothing else the Cavs tried last time they were in Orlando seemed to work.
(Photo by Jarrett Allen and Wendell Carter Jr.: Don Juan Moore / Getty Images)