The Spin: Cavs Beat Magic In Wire-To-Wire Win, Need To Build On It
The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Orlando Magic in wire-to-wire fashion, 121-111 in another quality win. Spencer Davies highlights five observations from the game.
That Was Good, But...
Donovan Mitchell had a point of emphasis after the game that struck sharper than most nights. This was a legitimate win for the Cavs over the third-best team in the Eastern Conference record-wise, with an emphasis on ball movement and bodies getting busy away from the ball.
But his focus switched to Miami as soon as the game ended.
"I think we played really well in that way tonight. I don't mean to sound negative when I say this, but we did it tonight. Now, let's do it again, you know what I mean?" Mitchell said. "That's the biggest thing is, this is who we are, this how we need to play as a group, as a whole, and now it's like, let's do it again.
"That's kind of my mindset, not getting too excited. It's a step in the right direction, but we have a tough schedule coming up. We need some wins, and we've got to continue to play that way as a group on both ends of the floor.”
Why all of a sudden the stern tone and business-like approach?
"Because it's time," Mitchell said. "I mean, I think we had October and November kind of figuring things out, injuries, whatnot, guys coming in and out of the lineup. We haven't played our best basketball in my personal opinion as a group. So now, we've got a test coming up, we've got teams that are ahead of us in the standings. We've got teams that have been playing well.
"So for us to be who we want to be and the team we all know we can be, we've got to continue to put these games together. And it is just that time."
Mitchell set the tone with 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting in the first quarter. Dribble pull-ups, aggressive drives to the basket and more. He finished with 35 points, seven rebounds, six assists and a steal.
Georges Niang — who chipped in 10 points and five rebounds and multiple timely three-point makes — echoes Mitchell's thoughts.
"We need to stack quarters, games, days, weeks, months to continue to grow into what we can be because we've shown glimpses of what we look like when we really play well," Niang told Cleveland.com and Cavs Insider.
Dec 6, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) drives to the basket against Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) during the second half at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
What The Foul Is Going On?
To start the first half, there were a total of 26 foul calls made overall. Just five of them came in the first quarter when the Cavs jumped out to a 37-20 lead. The wine-and-gold had 10 assists on its first 15 shots.
Then, in the second quarter, there were a bunch of stoppages. The scoreboard had a functional issue, injury timeouts happened and, most notably, 21 foul calls occurred.
"It's honestly on us. We were fouling every 10 seconds, and that's just part of the game sometimes," Jarrett Allen said. "Sometimes it's just the whistle doesn't go your way and you just have to just play through it and play your own basketball.”
To the Magic's credit, they were staying aggressive in getting downhill and into the paint, mostly Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Gary Harris.
"The momentum definitely shifted. In that second quarter, they shot 17 free throws. That just makes the game ugly. It gave a team who was down an opportunity to claw their way back in and kind of disrupt our flow a little bit. So we've just got to do a better job of defending without fouling.
"You knew the game plan [was] they were gonna attack. I thought we had some plays where we lacked discipline, we left our feet, we reached. But understanding what this team is trying to do, we just have to do a better job of being disciplined and keeping the ball in front of us."
Mitchell was pleased that the constant stoppages didn't junk up the Cavs offensive sets and determination to stay in motion.
"For us to still win the game by the margin we won — and quite frankly it was put away; they made a run, but it was put away — I think that just shows the mental fortitude we had as a group," Mitchell said.
"We put some lineups out there. We're playing five smalls, just being able to adapt to any situation. But there's going to be nights like that where we don't agree [with calls]. But for us, it's how do we respond and how do we continue to play?"
Valuing The Rock
Darius Garland picked a great night to take care of the basketball against the long-and-strong Magic. The Cavs guard not only scored 26 points and dished out nine assists, but he did so without committing a single turnover.
"I was throwing it to the black team today, the guys in all-black jerseys," Garland joked. "But no, it was just trying to find open guys. Trying to make the right read every time, try and make it easy for my teammates, and they made shots tonight, and that's what it was."
This the first time he was perfect with the ball this season, and it's his third-highest dime total without a giveaway in his career.
"I give Darius a little bit of leeway because I know who he is. He's an extremely efficient basketball player. So we knew those turnovers weren't gonna last," Bickerstaff said.
"We know the impact that he can have on a game and how he can orchestrate a game make his teammates better. And that's what this is about. His job is to not only take care of himself, but his job is to make this team go, and he did a great job of that tonight."
Wade's World
Dean Wade returned for the first time since Nov. 21 and made an impact in his 14 minutes of action. Defensively, he had to take on Banchero and Wagner in pinches. On the offensive end, he took a season-tying-high six shots from the field and canned two triples. Wade also nabbed five rebounds.
"I thought he was great. For a guy who hadn't played in a while, you'd think there'd be a little bit of rust but I thought he shot it with confidence," Bickerstaff said. "He defended his positions well. He helps space the floor, he helps our offense just keep ticking over, and he competed his tail off on the defensive end."
A Personality, For Sure
Niang made sure when got defensive stops and made big shots that he let the Cavs bench and the crowd know. It's not the first time we've seen this year where he's yelled out in celebration, and it's clearly a driver of success when he's on the floor.
"I've always been emotional and played with a chip on my shoulder," Niang told Cavs Insider. "That's just who I am. I try to liven up the group and I also let people know when things need to get done. That's just who I am.
