CLEVELAND, Ohio — In this episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, host Ethan Sands discusses the Cavs' recent loss to the Orlando Magic, breaking down the game into key themes.
Takeaways:
The Cavs' loss snapped a franchise record 16-game win streak.
Darius Garland had a strong start but the team faltered.
The third quarter was pivotal, with the Cavs scoring only 23 points.
Late-game execution was lacking, with key players not stepping up.
Evan Mobley’s absence highlighted his importance to the team.
Turnovers from main ball handlers were detrimental to the Cavs' success.
Role players need to contribute more consistently.
Learning from losses can provide valuable insights for improvement.
Health is crucial for the team’s playoff success.
The Cavs must maintain focus and intensity moving forward.
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Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.
Ethan Sands (00:10.254)
Two, one. What up, Cal’s Nation? I’m your host, Ethan Sands, and I’m back with another episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. And today is another solo-dolo episode of the podcast. Jimmy Watkins is a little bit under the weather, and Chris Fedor is still on a road trip, as we know the Cleveland Cavaliers are heading on a five-game road trip. He wasn’t at the game today. He got a lot.
Needed rest so we’re going to continue on without him for today’s podcast as we discuss the Cavs first loss since February February 4th to be exact the Orlando Magic took down the Cavs 108 103 and it snapped a Franchise record 16 game win streak so let’s get into why this Happened sure the Cavs got off to a great start 38 points
in the opening period, allowing just 25 to the Orlando Magic. It felt like another game where the Cavs were going to get exactly what they wanted and get to the spots that they needed to to be successful. We talk about the offense of Darius Garland, who was five of five from the field, all coming within the three point range for 10 points in the first quarter. He led the offense and he was surgical. But then
everything started to fall apart for the Cleveland Cavaliers and in turn the Orlando Magic were able to step into their own. They were able to get back on track and turn this back into a defensive minded game. We know coming into this game that the Orlando Magic are the third best defense in the NBA ranked by defensive rating and the Cavs are the best offensive rated team in the league. So it was going to be a dogfight to see which had the upper hand but
Today was a contest where the Cleveland Cavaliers had just had one of their worst field goal and three point percentages of the entire season. So let’s break this down statistically actually going into the numbers. The Cavs shot 41.7 % from the field. made 40 of 96 attempts. And on the other side, the Orlando Magic shot 42 % making just 34 of
Ethan Sands (02:36.91)
81 attempts. And when you talk about the possession battle, it was won by the Cleveland Cavaliers. They had an advantage of 15 more possessions, which is something that Kenny Atkinson has harped on his entire season. But the Cavs shot 10 of 40, 25 % when it comes to the three point range. And when these numbers are articulated into what the Cavs have done all season, this was the fifth worst field goal percentage
of the season for the Cavs and the second worst three point percentage when it comes to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs are two in five when they shoot below 42.5 % from the field and they had three losses of their 11 now when they’re shooting below 30 % from the in the three point range. So we talk about a team that has relied on its scoring relied on its shooting for a majority of the season.
And what happened? To tell you that, we have to go into the third quarter after the first half, where the Cavs kept it close and took a lead into the first, into the halftime break. But that third quarter is when the Orlando Magic kind of took over. They scored 35 points in the third quarter and the opening quarter of the second half, while holding the Cleveland Cavaliers to just 23 points. We saw a big dip.
when it came to the Cavs offensive production. And we understand that this quarter was filled with turnovers. They had multiple coming from Donovan Mitchell, Ty Jerome, and a total of seven turnovers were maintained by the Cavs in that period. And they just had 13 all games of seven coming in. The third quarter is huge.
Two from Darius Garland two from Ty Jerome two from Donovan Mitchell and not to mention that the offense wasn’t hitting on all cylinders either They shot thirty eight point one percent from the field and twenty percent on ten three-pointers In that period so we talked about how this team has relied on their shooting But also we understand that their defense has been their calling card when they needed to step up on that end of the floor and obviously
Ethan Sands (04:57.004)
They weren’t able to do that in this period. And it wasn’t like there was one player that really stood out for the Orlando Magic. Obviously, Paolo Mancara and Franz Wagner are the hubs of this offense. They are the guys that can take over. But the Orlando Magic kind of looked like the Cleveland Cavaliers when it came to their spread offense. They were relying on their rotation players. They were relying on their roll guys to hit shots, make shots in big moments. Contavious Caldwell, Caldwell Pope.
had a couple of big ones, especially in the fourth quarter. But it’s really a testament to what this Orlando Magic team has done and getting out wins. Obviously coming into this game, they had just won three of their last 10 contests. So that’s not saying that they have had as much success that they may have wanted to, but they are the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and have been able to put up fights against decent opponents throughout this season.
Obviously the Cavs are one of them. This was the third and final matchup of the season between these two teams. The Cavs already had locked up the series win earlier this season with a two to one record now. But the Cavs are 56 and 11 now talking about what they’ve been able to accomplish. I think it’s important to also note just the late game execution that happened in the fourth quarter that we have been accustomed to.
And I’m going to be completely honest, right? When I’m writing a game story in which I had to do today, I generally have two different stories. Um, one for if the Cavs would win one for if the Cavs would lose. And today it had gotten to the point where the Cleveland Cavaliers have come back and, or have been able to win so heavily in the fourth quarter. believe they were 47 or 48 and now they were undefeated.
after entering the fourth quarter for the entire season. And today was their first loss when it comes to those games. It’s also just their fifth home loss of the season, the 30 and five at home. But when it comes to the late game heroics that we’ve been used to, Chris Feodor has talked on this podcast about there is Garland being Mr. Fourth Quarter, a nickname that he earned.
Ethan Sands (07:17.24)
Two years ago when he was an all-star for the first time and now it’s resurging. That didn’t happen today. Donovan Mitchell also a clutch player that as everybody knows, but there were no heroics from these guys today. And when it came to the role players in the fourth quarter hitting shots and they have all season long, another no, right? We have to talk about a Cleveland Cavaliers team that was held to 20 points in the fourth quarter. Seven was coming from Donovan Mitchell, five.
coming from Darius Garland, but Donovan Mitchell was three of 12 from the field and one of eight from three point range. It felt like, and I talked to Donovan about this after the game, it felt like they were pressing. They understand, and this entire team understands how much they rely on those two guys to come through. Kenny Atkinson mentioned it as well. You can’t really, he said that you can’t put it all on them.
because they could have put them in better situations to succeed. I agree and disagree at the same time in that sense, because I don’t think that Donovan, I think Donovan had, specifically Donovan, had a couple of shots that were uncharacteristic, let’s call them. It felt like he was playing cue roll ball. It felt like he was trying to do too much, especially after the third quarter where he had some highlight plays. He had a slam dunk that was ferocious that everybody in the arena
noticing it was around Paolo Bencaro, all these things. So he came into the fourth quarter wanting to get into his own, wanting to be hungry and as you should as the franchise faced. But I feel like the Cavs have relied on their role players so much this season to be successful that in the same light, in the same breath, you need to continue to empower them to be successful. When you talk about the shot allocation of the fourth quarter, Donovan took 12.
Darius took four. The rest of the entire roster, the maximum someone took was two. Jared Allen took two. Deandre Hunter was O of two. Max Struse was one of two. Sam Mero was one of one. And that was a big shot, right? We talk about Max Struse at the end of the game hitting big shots. He’s hit big shots in this past month. And that’s the biggest portion of it is in this last month in games, Chicago Bulls, the Detroit Pistons, we’ve seen this team.
Ethan Sands (09:43.448)
come back from deficit, we’ve seen them handle the fourth quarter with grace. They had so much calm and yet it felt like today that they were frantic and trying to find ways to be successful. And that is also because the Cavs knew that they had been struggling from the field. What Kenny Atkinson said after the game, he said,
We got Iso Heavy, and they kept us out of transition. So I think they, again, who’s credit to them, that’s their identity, but this league is humbling. And if you think you’re like even 16 in a row, whatever, right around the corner, this is obviously a playoff team and a tough team to play. So sure, I want to be realistic here. The Orlando Magic are the A seed. They have the third best.
defense in the league right now overall over the course of the season. But the reality is the Orlando Magic are not going to give the Cavs a run for their money in a seven game series, right? This Orlando Magic team, feel like because of the injuries that they’re dealing with, Lawrence Wagner and Jalen Suggs being the two main ones, that Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell have to take advantage of this kind of matchup against guys that don’t have the same capabilities.
to guard them like Jalen Suggs does. Cole Anthony is a guy that also was injured in tonight’s game and did not come back in the second half. So you have to take advantage of those. But I do understand that the Orlando Magic are a type of team that can frustrate the Cleveland Cavaliers because we talk about their length on every position, right? Franz Waffner, Paolo Bencaro, Wendell Carter Jr., Cantavious Caldwell Pope.
And these guys, mean, Corey Joseph, who started for them today is just 6-3. So he’s out of the norm. But then you throw in a guy like Anthony Black, who’s 6′7″, to take some of his minutes. And he played a majority of the fourth quarter. He played almost 10 minutes while Corey Joseph played just three. That shows you the difference that was made. And you have to give credit.
Ethan Sands (11:57.336)
to Jamal Mosley because he’s a defensive-minded coach and defense wins championships and all these things. But the reality of the situation is that the Cavs had open looks, the Cavs had turnovers, the Cavs made mistakes, they did not have the late game execution that we have become so accustomed to this season. And as we’ve said all year, fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers have been spoiled, right? Because this has been a team that we have felt like
They have shot over their head all year in the beginning of the season. We were like, it has to come down at some point, but it really hasn’t. Right. This team is one that has continuously been the best three point shooting team in the NBA averaging 38.8 % from deep. And they also are the number two in field goal percentage in the league. 49.2 just behind the Denver nuggets, 50.7. This is also.
being recorded at seven o’clock Eastern time on Sunday. So things are happening around the league are going to continue happening. But this is what we’re talking about. A team that has allowed fans has allowed me to believe that they are going to come back or be able to pull out even tough wins to the point that I didn’t even have a losing article written and I had to at the buzzer rewrite my entire story.
to portray the loss and the significance of it. But the biggest thing for the takeaway from this game is the fact that it’s still just another game in the 82 game season. Sometimes you need a humbling loss. Sometimes you need a smack in the face, especially when you’re a team that has 56 wins over 67 games to understand like there are still areas that you can improve. Obviously you want to learn through wins and that helps you.
but a loss can give you a different kind of perspective to the areas that you need to go into a little bit more when it comes to this team. The other thing, the Cavs were allowing a lot of fouls as well. They were, they’re a team that is not necessarily known for giving up fouls or free throws, but the Orlando Magic are third in the NBA in free throw attempts per game with 23.7. In the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers,
Ethan Sands (14:21.422)
They ended up taking 34 threes or 34 free throws. me. Um, the calves took just 20. So we talk about the personal foul deviation. talk about all these different things. The calves ended the game with 22 personal fouls. land on magic ended up with 20. So obviously also making the most of your fouls and not fouling. Um, when it comes to in transition or in, um, when the shooter is going into his motion, but
I think the Cavs were also frustrated with the officiating today. Tony Brothers is another guy that multiple teams across the league can kind of wince at. I know one of the fellow media personnel came up to me today before the game and pointed out his name and was like, should we be worried? And there was frustration in the locker room after the game just around while players were going through their interviews. Someone was talking about how like,
the one of the scuffles for a loose ball and how one foul got called, but the other didn’t. So it’s definitely interesting to see how the Cavs are going to react to the foul calls, the physicality, because we knew coming into this game, right? We look back to the seven game series in the first round against the Orlando Magic. We know what kind of physicality, what level of physicality that the Orlando Magic play and sure the playoffs are a completely different piece.
But that’s just the identity of this team. That’s who they are. That’s exactly what they’re going to do and try and rattle you by doing so with their wing depth, with their length at every single position. And that forces turnovers. And we saw that at the point of attack, as I mentioned earlier in the third quarter specifically. But I mean, you cannot have your three main ball handlers combined for 11 turnovers. Darius Garland had five turnovers to just four assists.
Donovan Mitchell had three turnovers to just five assists Ty Jerome had three turnovers to one assist, right? These are the guys that are bringing up the floor and there were times today where they were getting hounded full court and Kenny Atkinson gave credit to Anthony black and Anthony black deserves a lot of credit regarding 94 feet and being putting pressure in the back feet back court and all these things it’s just a matter of
Ethan Sands (16:45.866)
figuring out how to be successful in those situations and I think it’s interesting because the Cavs played without Evan Mobley. That is a wrinkle that cannot go unsaid. It’s probably what I’m going to write about for tomorrow morning. The importance of Evan Mobley to this team and how it is not only apparent to other teams and how they can attack the Cavs when Evan Mobley is not on the floor, but it’s abundantly apparent
to the Cleveland Cavaliers and what they have to do in their strategies. I asked Donovan Mitchell after the game about the importance and how this game kind of shows or illustrates how important Evan Mobley is to this team. And he said a thousand percent. He said, I’ve been trying to tell you all that since the beginning of the year, how important Evan Mobley is. Hopefully, you know, figure that out. You guys figure that out because of this. And this is a game where, know, obviously,
he would help big time, right? Because it’s not only necessarily talking about his offensive production and what he brings on that end of the floor, but what Kenny Atkinson has tried to change him into, not change, but describe him differently, is as a wing defender, as a wing player, rather than a big man. Because we know, and this is interesting and funny to talk about in a conversation where just a season ago, we were trying to figure out if Jared Allen,
was going to be on the trading block because Evan Mobley could be suited to be a center. But I think he thrives so well in both positions and with having guys on the floor like Deandre Hunter, like Dean Wade, like Jared Allen, who not only play the center position or could play the center position in reference to Deandre and Dean Wade, which we’ve seen already this season with Kenny Atkinson, with Kenny Atkinson, excuse me. I think.
It’s important to note how Evan has grown as a defender, as a ball handler, as an offensive hub, and how those different things match up better against this Orlando Magic team, Palo, Franz. Like you think about a game where the Cavs were able to sick De’Andre Hunter on Palo. And obviously that is by no means an easy assignment. Palo Bencuro is one of the top up and comers in this league, but De’Andre held his own. Imagine that.
Ethan Sands (19:09.238)
while also having Evan Mobley roaming in the back as a safety and helping out in those different categories. And also Franz Wagner falls into this category as well. I think it’s just important to note how much Evan Mobley has shifted and changed the perception of this Cavs team and what their ceiling is. And when you talk about a team that has played four or nine games now where Evan Mobley has either
not started or not finished a contest, they are five and four when Moby doesn’t play in the entirety of the game or the game at all because that just illustrates how important he is to this team. So let me walk you through what the Cavs record is without some of their best players this season. Without Donovan Mitchell, they’re six and Without Darius Garland, they’re four and
Without Evan Moley, as we just mentioned, there are five and four in games that he does not finish. Obviously I’m referring to the game where he was injured and did not return to the contest and they ended up losing that game. If you want to say and not include that one, there are five and three, right? Three losses. Without Ty Jerome, there four and one. And the one game that Ty Jerome was out, I mentioned this on this podcast, it was a game where they needed facilitating, they needed ball handling, they needed a steady hand.
And obviously that’s ironic to say that in this kind of context after today’s game. But in the last one, as we know that Jared Allen has not missed a game this season because he wants to play 82 games this year. He said, or not he said, the Cavs are zero and zero with him off the floor because he hasn’t been off the floor. So I think that’s just a little tidbit to throw in there as well. So breaking this down, right? The Cavs shooting.
The Cavs turnovers, the Cavs lack of defense or their defensive identity, which has Evan Mobley as the pinnacle of that. Obviously Jared Allen is a great defender. He had one block. Obviously Deandre Hunter is a great defender. had one steal. Obviously Dean Wade is a great defender. He had three steals, right? And he doesn’t get enough credit for his defensive effort because obviously a lot of people look to his offensive numbers and there’s much left to be desired.
Ethan Sands (21:36.024)
from Dean Wade’s offensive game. But the other portion of this, when we talk about offensive production from the role players, and I said this earlier, I prefaced it. These guys that are in a role that are defensive minded or not having the best game offensively, like when it comes down to crunch time and you’re getting these minutes, you cannot solely rely on Donovan and Darius because it puts the pressure and it puts the stress on them to try and do too much.
rather than continuing with the game plan that has gotten to the point where there are 56 and 11 in the best team in the NBA record wise, right? So if you don’t do that, right, if you don’t allow him to have the confidence in you or whatever, Donovan is gonna take 28 shots and score 23 points. That’s kind of the outcome that you don’t wanna see. Jared Allen was eight of 11 for 20 points.
He was 4-6 from the free throw line. He 12 rebounds, three on the offensive glass. He was dealing with a little bit of foul trouble too. That’s the other issue with Deandre Hunter. He had four fouls as well. They were trying to mitigate his minutes and all those things. But Jared Allen was far and away the best player overall for the Cavs tonight. And he only got two shots in the fourth quarter because obviously it’s a numbers game and he’s not taking three pointers. But Darius is a guy that you need to see.
do what he does and Donovan are the guys that you’ve got to go to. But in those moments, Max Struess, Deandre Hunter, who missed a three pointer badly, hit the side of the backboard on a corner three. Sam Merrill missed a three pointer badly. Those two guys combined to be two of 12 from deep. That’s unacceptable, right? That cannot happen for guys that are considered three and D.
Obviously Sam Merrill has been great defensively this year. He’s taken a big step in that area in that capacity, but he’s still supposed to be a sharp shooter for the Cavs and they need him to be that in those moments. And we’ve seen it in the last couple of games. So we’re not going to say that this is like, my God, he’s gone back to not being able to make shots. It’s a blip in the radar. You got to keep going. And that’s the other biggest thing that I mentioned is that
Ethan Sands (23:53.346)
This Cavs team should not be, cannot be worried about one loss. I feel like they needed to get a loss before the playoffs and to help them realize where they are, to help them get more film to learn from because learning through wins is great, but learning through losses can sometimes strike a nerve that helps them get to a different level. But I want to wrap up with this, right? The Cleveland Cavaliers, again, if they faced off
with the Orlando Magic in a seven game series, I’m of the belief that they are able to get done with them in a gentleman’s suite. It’s a possibility for the first round. Obviously we understand that the Cavs are the first seed. Currently the Orlando Magic are the eighth seed at the time of this recording. So it’s a potential matchup. If everything were to stay the same way, if the playing tournament fares out how we might think it would, this will be a rematch of the first round.
but these two teams are entirely different than they were last year. Obviously Orlando was dealing with the injuries that they had. And that’s what I mentioned or I asked Jamal Mosley before the game. I asked him what the biggest difference between this year’s Cavs and last year’s Cavs, because they basically know them the best after playing them seven games in a playoff series. And his response was pretty plain and simple. He said they’re healthy.
And obviously Evan Mobley not being on the floor is a big one for them tonight. But in the series last year, they were without Jared Allen, were without Dean Wade, two very crucial guys to the defense of this team, to the guys that are able to guard the larger wings, they are able to wall up and strong enough to go through that. So I think it’s important to note that this Cavs team is healthy except for Evan Mobley currently.
But I do want to make two injury notes for this to make sure I cover this. Evan Mobley was at the game. Evan Mobley was in the locker room. He seemed fine. He seemed like he was walking fine. He was dealing with a foot contusion, but it feels like he’s going to head on this five game road trip. he was questionable for today’s game, so it feels like he’s going in the right direction. Obviously, it was an injury that we can believe he suffered.
Ethan Sands (26:10.35)
in the Grizzlies game when he was going onto the floor to get a loose ball. And I think it’s important to note how hard these guys are working to be healthy. But the important of it is that they need to be healthy for the playoffs. So the Cavs are going to be very cautious. I feel like if they get any indication, if the foot swells up on the airplane ride to Los Angeles as they play the Clippers on Tuesday, that they’ll hold them out.
And they’ll wait because they still get more time and he’ll be able to deal with the swelling of his foot throughout or whatever. But that’s only if that happens. I’m not saying that that’s happened yet. I’m saying it’s a possibility because that’s what happens with traveling and all these different things. The other thing is after the game, Max Truss was in the locker room with a ice pack or ice on his left hand. And he was just
Hanging out, wasn’t in pain, it didn’t seem. He was just doing what he does after most games. But he did have a ice pack or ice on his left hand. So that’s something to note if the injury report comes out that he has something going on with his hand. And we saw that when he was defending and it happened, I believe later into the game in the second half. So.
It’s just something to note, something to keep in mind of, keep an eye on when we talk about what this Cavs team is going through because health is the most important thing when it comes to this team, when it comes to the playoffs and their success because as we’ve seen, and in abundance this season, they need everybody. This is a team that is built around their core four and the players being able to lead and encourage players.
but if their role players are not able to fulfill their duties and be able to hit the shots that they’re given or create or just defend, this team could be in trouble when it comes to some of these longer, more athletic, more physical teams down the stretch. And yes, I’m looking at you, the Boston Celtics. I’m not saying that this is something to worry about. Again, this is a team that is 56 and 11. They just got done with a 16 game win streak.
Ethan Sands (28:32.746)
sure it got snapped by the eighth best team in the Eastern Conference, but the understanding is this is a learning experience. There was nothing about the Cavs team that said after the game that they weren’t worried, nothing like that. It’s just an opportunity to grow and get better. And that’s what they continue to do this season. And as we’ve seen outside of losing three games in a row, when they lose a game, they come back with a different kind of
urgency and intensity and I think that’s going to be much needed in this long March stretch. And as we talk about this team, as they continue to move forward into the season, into the end of the season, the dog days of the NBA as they continue to move forward. But with that being said, that’ll wrap up today’s episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. But remember to become a Cavs insider and interact.
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