1 stud and 1 dud for Cavaliers from their win over the Magic on Friday

Heading into their game on Friday against the Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers fans had to be confident that their squad would be able to keep their winning ways going at home.

The Cavaliers have admittedly had their inconsistencies on the road, where they last had a disappointing loss at the Toronto Raptors on Monday night, and are currently 5-7 on the season. Fortunately, at home, the Cavaliers have been dynamite.

The Cavs took care of a Philadelphia 76ers team that was without James Harden and Tyrese Maxey still on Wednesday night, but from the second quarter on, Cleveland was running away with that one.

So, ahead of Friday night’s tilt against the Orlando Magic, a 5-17 squad coming in, it was apparent that the Cavs could very well cruise again then. The Magic have had their share of injures themselves this season, like the Cavs, but they’re a really young squad that is still rebuilding and is a ways away.

With that in mind, while Orlando did make things somewhat interesting with how they kept scratching and clawing in the fourth quarter, and did cut the game to single digits, Cleveland would eventually regain control and made shots when they needed to. The Cavs would then go on to win 107-96.

As for some notable performers that popped, Evan Mobley only had 10 shots from the field in starting minutes again at the 5 for Jarrett Allen, but Mobley hit nine of those, and had four assists, two blocks and was a plus-15.

Orlando not having Wendell Carter Jr. didn’t help them yesterday once again, but injuries have long been an issue with him in his career, and Mobley, regardless, was great.

From there, other key contributors included Donovan Mitchell, who hit a bunch of shots, and set the tone, and while he was only six-of-15 from the field, Darius Garland did make some crucial plays down the stretch. He would have 18 points and six assists, to only one turnover; it was far from his best outing, and he was a minus-5, objectively. On a positive note, though, after taking a hit to the left side of his face in the fourth quarter, he would return, and seemed fine.

Along with those players we touched on, Kevin Love was very productive in his return from being sidelined with a hairline fracture in his thumb, as he shot four-of-seven, and would have 11 points, 11 rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes off the bench. He was a plus-16, too, and would draw two charges Friday night.

Other bench guys, such as Isaac Okoro, Caris LeVert and two-way contributor Mamadi Diakite aided the Cavaliers on defense last night, also. And Cedi Osman, to some degree, did on that end, despite an uneventful offensive game from him.

Overall, it was a solid game from the Cavaliers, though, and they’re starting to tighten some things up on defense, and when the ball movement is there, they can go on their patented runs. The home crowd brought some added juice at points, too, and after last night’s W, Cleveland is now 10-1 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse thus far in 2022-23.

Moving along then, let’s get into our Cavaliers stud and dud from Friday’s W over the Magic.

First, we’ll begin with the Cavs stud here from that one.