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Cleveland Cavaliers provide window into season with 94-85 opening night loss to Orlando: Chris Fedor’s instant analysis
Author: Chris Fedor
Publication: Cleveland.com
ORLANDO -- The Cleveland Cavaliers’ opener painted a portrait of what’s to come in the first season of the John Beilein era.
There were flashes of hope mixed with far too many crippling stretches, adding up to Cleveland’s first loss of the season against the Orlando Magic, 94-85.
“Defensive concepts were there some of the time and I think against a team that’s played together and know what they want out of their coach and their system, more times than not they’re going to have the advantage, so it will be a lot that shows on the film,” Kevin Love said following the loss.
"Overall, we have to put the ball in the hole. A lot of them the first night that just didn’t fall for us. Little lapses on both sides of the ball. We will clean that up and there will be ups and downs early on because we have to get everybody on the same page, together and adjusted to Coach’s system.”
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Cleveland Cavaliers: Is stingy defensive performance in opener a sign of things to come or a one-night deception?
Author: Cameron Fields
Publication: Cleveland.com
ORLANDO -- In the final days of practice before heading to Orlando for the regular season opener, the Cleveland Cavaliers stressed defense. During the team’s shootaround at a nearby sports academy Wednesday morning, that end of the floor was once again a point of emphasis.
The Cavs are fully aware of last year’s numbers. Every coach has said the same thing, correctly pointing out that the franchise had the worst defense. Not just in the conference. Or the league. But in NBA history. A nasty 116.8 rating.
While once again lacking great individual defenders, the Cavs are committed to fixing it.
“J.B. (Bickerstaff) has done a great job getting the foundation, so it’s on us to execute,” Tristan Thompson said.
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Sluggish Second Quarter Sinks Cavs
Author: Joe Gabriele
Publication: Cavs.com
One lesson the Cavaliers youngsters – and the squad’s new head coach – will take from the season opener is that one bad stretch can sink an entire ballgame, as the Magic used a 16-0 second-quarter run to give themselves enough breathing room to hang on for the 94-85 win on Wednesday night in Orlando.
Four Cavs starters finished with double-figures – with Tristan Thompson (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Kevin Love (11 points, 18 boards) each doubling-up in the loss. Collin Sexton added 16 points despite a poor shooting night from the floor and Cedi Osman canned a pair of late treys to finish with 13 points.
Both first rounders saw action on Wednesday, with Darius Garland getting the start – canning his first two three-pointers and finishing with eight points on 3-of-9 shooting, adding a team-high five assists. Kevin Porter Jr. didn’t fare quite as well, taking the collar on six shot attempts off the bench.
Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic led all scorers with 21 points to go with a team-high nine boards.
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More Daily Press Links:
- (10/23) Magic 94, Cavaliers 85: Magic top Cavs in Beilein’s debut Ohio.com
- (10/23) Ten observations from the Cavs’ loss: The Darius Garland-Collin Sexton combo, debuts and defensive blips The Athletic
- (10/23) Cavs' top priorities should be development, dealing some expiring contracts and keeping their top pick Crain's Cleveland
- (10/23) Magic hold off Cavaliers to win season opener Orlando Sentinel