Cavs: 3 players to watch in second 2019-20 game vs. Magic

The Cleveland Cavaliers have their second meeting of the 2019-20 season against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. Here are three players to watch in that one.

The Cleveland Cavaliers won on Saturday against the Portland Trail Blazers and lost after a valiant comeback in the closing stretches against the Brooklyn Nets 108-106.

Both of those teams were banged up, and Brooklyn did not have star point guard Kyrie Irving, who was out due to a reported shoulder issue, nor did they have center DeAndre Jordan due to reported ankle soreness, but the Wine and Gold played well, anyhow.

The third matchup in this six-game home stand for the Cavaliers is Wednesday against the Orlando Magic. Orlando has been somewhat underwhelming thus far in the 2019-20 season, as they have started with a 6-10 record.

They are a good defensive team, though, as evidenced by them having a rock solid 11th ranking in defensive rating, as noted by NBA.com, and Orlando is another team that was set to have a considerable size advantage versus Cleveland.

One could see that in Cleveland’s first 2019-20 game against the Magic, in which they defeated the Cavs 94-85 in the season opener in Orlando.

Orlando could make it difficult to get buckets near the rim, as that was proven to be the case in the first meeting. Though it was just the first game of this season, it was still clear that Orlando is a good shot blocking team.

The Magic are third in the league in blocks per game, as indicated by NBA.com. Though they had just four blocks against the Cavaliers in the season opener, Cleveland had trouble getting near the basket, and Orlando’s length was a crucial reason they had 12 steals, as shown by ESPN.

So who is one of three players to watch, in particular, in this second Cavs-Magic meeting of the 2019-20 season?

Let’s get into that now.