Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 standout performers against the Orlando Magic

Who were the Cleveland Cavaliers standout performers during their Friday night loss against the Orlando Magic?

The Cleveland Cavaliers (2-1) were blown out by the Orlando Magic (2-1) on Friday night, 114-93.

This is a game where the final score was flattering, believe it or not, as the Cavs were dominated from tipoff to the final horn. The Magic jumped the Cavs early, repeatedly attacking Jose Calderon and Kevin Love in the pick-and-roll with their perimeter quickness and swinging the ball around to hit three-point shooters. They were destroying the Cleveland Cavaliers pick-and-roll defense with Calderon and Love in and the Cavs started pressing to cut the lead, only making the issue worse. It wasn’t until the Cavs put in Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson that their team defense improved and they slowly started chipping away at the Magic’s lead, which was constantly near 20 points. Once the Magic got rolling, the closest the Cavs cut the deficit was to seven points. However, after that, the Magic were once again hitting every three-point shot they took (48.6 percent shooting from three for the game).

This game was so ugly, there were really only three candidates to choose from for King James Gospel to list their three standout performers.

The game was so ugly, in fact, that there isn’t much to say about the standout performances of these three players. However, without any further ado:

3. Iman Shumpert

Much of Shumpert’s scoring damage was done in the fourth quarter (15 points) with the game out of reach but he had a few solid dribble-drives against the Magic and played solid defense in a game where the perimeter defense was putrid to start out. He, along with Smith, manned the Cavs’ backcourt for much of the stretch when the Cavs were trying to get back in the game. That led to Shumpert starting the second half at point guard in Calderon’s place.

Shumpert had 21 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, a strip-block in 30 minutes with an offensive rating of 111.0 and a defensive rating of 91.6. Shumpert’s net rating (19.4) was the highest in the Cavs’ rotation while his player impact estimate (PIE) of 17.1 was only second to James.

He also did this.

https://twitter.com/NBAtradewinds/status/921903536476102656

2. LeBron James

LeBron James let the game come to him for much of the contest instead of taking it to the defense. Maybe it’s because when the game started, he was the only player doing anything for the Cavs and had 14 of the Cavs’ 18 first-quarter points. Consider that James finished with 22 points, just scoring 8 points over the final three (two and a quarter) periods. That’s how much James let his foot off the gas. It was the Cavs’ third game, it was their second night of a back-to-back, they just played a road game against a tough Eastern Conference foe and James missed most of his preseason conditioning while rehabbing an ankle injury. But it was the Magic, man.

James finished with 22 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 turnover in 31 minutes. He had the highest player impact estimate (PIE) with 18.0 but also had an offensive rating of 73.4, the fourth-lowest on the team while having a plus/minus of -31 (a team-low).

1. Kevin Love

Love started the game 0-4 and sat down early as he and Jose Calderon were turned into mincemeat by the Orlando Magic’s pick-and-roll game. On the offensive end, every shot Love took looked rushed. However, after the Cavs picked up a bit of steam, Love started gobbling up boards and attacking the teeth of the Magic’s defense. It was Minnesota Kev-like, especially with the way he operated from the midrange area. Love picked up the scoring slack when James let his foot off the gas and scored 19 points on 8-13 shooting from the field after his horrendous start.

Love finished the game with 19 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block. Love’s player impact estimate (PIE) of 16.4 was the third-highest in the Cavs rotation.