Superb ball movement and shooting breaks down the Orlando Magic

Despite the Cleveland Cavaliers being short-handed, the Orlando Magic could not capitalize on Monday night, putting up barely a fight in the eventual loss.

With the Cleveland Cavaliers holding out four major, starter-worthy players Monday, the Orlando Magic smelled a chance for a big win that would have undone some of their recent losses.

Instead, the Cavaliers showed the best version of themselves, and the Magic became bystanders for much of the game before finally bowing down.

Mo Williams, Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert and Kyrie Irving all sat out Monday night’s game in Cleveland. Mozgov and Williams have been starting this season, but instead Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova picked up the honor.

Cleveland did not miss a beat for three and a half quarters, absolutely tearing open the Magic defense in half court and full in the 117-103 win at Quicken Loans Arena on Monday.

Andrew Nicholson (ORL) — 18 pts.; Shabazz Napier (ORL) — 11 pts., 9 assts.
Kevin Love (CLE) — 34 pts.; LeBron James (CLE) — 15 pts., 13 assts.

The Cavs looked the perfect version of themselves in the opening minutes. Lebron James was in his peak controlling-the-game-without-scoring mode, getting wherever he wanted to on the floor, and not even getting assists on a lot of these possessions. But it sent the Magic scrambling, always one step behind, and the Cavs shooters made them pay early on.

None more so than Kevin Love, who at one point scored 15 straight points. He ended the half 5 of 6 from beyond the arc with 27 points, not the first time he has had a big scoring night in a half this season. He finished with 34 points and eight rebounds, and more than a few of those famous full-court outlet passes.

The Magic did have their own first half hero. Andrew Nicholson showed touch both inside and out on his way to 15 first half points, and his energy was part of a run in the late first and early second quarter that put the Magic up by 10 points.

Ball pressure from Victor Oladipo and Shabazz Napier caused turnovers, and the Magic were able to get out and stretch their legs. Aaron Gordon and Oladipo showed exactly what they could do in the open court.

Through pure effort and hustle, the Magic clawed their way to a 10-point lead, playing the Cavs at their own game.

Oladipo and Napier put in a lot of effort on the defensive end, but it simply was not replicated in the second half as the Cavs returned to their superb ball sharing and perimeter shooting. In the second half, the Magic barely even sniffed the Cavs in the scoreline.

While pressure caused turnovers, and the effort on defense was definitely there, it was also their downfall.

The Cavs were throwing up shot fake after shot fake, and the Magic defenders were jumping every time. More than once Tobias Harris or Evan Fournier would get called for a foul. And even when they did not, the shooter would drive by instead, causing the whole defense to collapse, opening up for another of these shots.

The fortunate side of this apparent wall was the minutes played by much of the bench squad.

Noted already was Andrew Nicholson showing off his versatile skills ,but Shabazz Napier also played an energetic game and came away with a near double-double of 11 points and nine assists.

Napier, Gordon and Nicholson all played as many or more minutes than the starters, who all played well below the average as the Magic fell behind quickly in the third quarter.

It is possible Skiles was trying to send a message in the second half, as the aggression clearly was not what he wanted from his stars. Evan Fournier only took four shots (though he made all three of his 3-pointers), Harris only took five. Vucevic was a respectable 6 for 10, but with a defender of Kevin Love’s capability, Skiles surely would have wanted more out of the big man.

The performance from the starters left Scott Skiles promising changes to the starting lineup after the game. The inconsistency has become too much to bear.

Napier’s contribution could not have been more needed, as Elfrid Payton put up one of his worst performances of the season: 0 for 7 from the field, good for zero points overall.

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On the Cavaliers side, Dellavedova had his own double-double going if it was needed, with 15 points and nine assists, going 4 for 6 from the 3-point line. J.R. Smith had his own shooting party, going 6 for 10 from beyond the arc for 26 points as second leading scorer.

The Cavaliers were always going to be a tough matchup for the Magic, as they are for any team.

While the Magic would have earned respect from a hard-fought game, they instead exposed many of their problems: a lack of discipline on defense, an ability to be picked apart by good ball movement and some of the weaknesses of the starting lineup, all of whom ended in the red on the plus-minus stat.

While some good performances from bench players are good to see, a competitive team, instead of one who basically rolled over, would have fans much happier.