Cavs Vs Magic: 4 Things We Learned

The Cleveland Cavaliers destroyed the Orlando Magic last night while still missing key players.

The Cavs shot the Orlando Magic out of the gym with a 117-103 win. The offense was clicking on all cylinders just like they were on Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks. Cleveland finished the game shooting over 50% behind the 3 point line and had four players finish the game in double figures. The Cavs had 34 assists on 43 field goals. It’s almost impossible to contain an offense with this much firepower when they share the ball like this.

While the offense was great, the defense left much to be desired. Cleveland took a commanding lead in the first quarter, but they fell behind by double digits in the second quarter because of lackluster defense. Orlando shot 49% from the field and 46% from behind the arc, both of which are much higher than David Blast would prefer.

Here’s what we learned from Cavs Vs Magic:

The Cavs still struggle to hold leads when LeBron James isn’t on the floor.

LeBron was on the bench when the Magic made their run to take a double digit lead in the first half. Cleveland was up 12 when LeBron went to the bench in the end of the first quarter, but they were down by six when he came back into the game in the second quarter.

The Cavs were playing without four key players, but that shouldn’t be used as an excuse. The bench has been good this year, but there’s no excuse for turning a 12 point lead into a six point deficit.

LeBron ended the game with 15 points, 13 assists, and 6 boards. His scoring and passing accounted for 48 points and finished the game with a plus/minus of plus 29. On the other side of the coin no bench players were on the plus side of that ledger.

Matthew Dellavedova is a competitor.

Dellavedova wasn’t expected to play in this game because of an ankle injury, but he decided to play through it because of the injuries to Mo Williams and Kyrie Irving. However, youu wouldn’t know his ankle was hurt after seeing his performance against the Magic. Delly finished with 15 points, 9 assists, and no turnovers.

Delllavedova is continues to show why he’s the ultimate team player. Not many players would suffer through injuries to play against a far inferior opponent in November. Performances like this are why every coach would love to have a guy like Delly on his team. He continues to show us why he’s such a valuable component of this team.

Kevin Love can score 17 straight points.

Orlando didn’t have an answer for Love, especially in the second quarter. Love rattled off 17 straight points for the Cavs in the second quarter. He showed us why LeBron has said numerous times that he wants to run the offense through him. Much of Love’s success came from dominating the paint, and then extending his range to behind the arc. He finished the game with a season high 34 points while shooting 6 of 9 from deep.

There was a lot of talk last year that Love wasn’t fitting in with the team and how he would be better suited playing elsewhere. However, his play so far this season has quieted much of those talks. Love’s dominating performance against the Magic might’ve put the nail in the coffin to all those talks.

LeBron accomplishes something that only one other player in NBA history has done.

LeBron reaches milestones on seemingly a nightly basis, but this could be his most impressive individual accomplishment. James joined Oscar Robinson as the only other player in NBA history to be in the top 25 in career points and assists.

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James is truly a once in a lifetime talent, and this is more proof of that. This is an achievement that even the greatest players of all time such as Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson never accomplished.

We truly are witnessing greatness. The scary thing is he’s still in his prime.

The Cavs will look to keep the momentum going when they visit Toronto to take on the Raptors on Wednesday night. LeBron will likely pass Reggie Miller up for 17th on the all-time scoring list on Wednesday. He’s currently 4 points away from doing it.