Wine and Gold once again were not dealt their full deck of cards as the took on the sinking Magic at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse but it was a former king who’s turned into a bit of a wild card that was the story on Wednesday night. Kevin Love heard a smattering of boos every time he touched the ball after his lackluster effort inbounding the ball Monday in the Cavs’ close loss to the Raptors.
It was hard to tell if it was the boos, the fact that the Cavs only had 9 available guys, or were just coming off 5 of their last six on the road but the first quarter against an Orlando team that had lost 6 straight was just ugly. The Wine and Gold only connected on 6 of 22 field goals and missed all 8 of their 3’s as the Magic led 26-16 in a real barn burner in the first.
“We were sluggish, we just couldn’t find that pop we were searching for that spark and we had a hard time to find it,” said Cavs coach JB Bickerstaff.
“We struggled making shots.”
The offense picked up the pace in the 2nd thanks to a lift off the bench from Damyean Dotson and Mfiondu Kabengele as they combine for 14 with the 2nd unit as the Cavs cut it to a 50-44 Magic lead at halftime. Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland had 10 points apiece while the man of the hour struggled with Kevin Love going 0-7 from the field, 0-6 from behind the arc while also picking up a technical foul.
Unfortunately, or fortunately if you were hoping the Cavaliers improve their draft position over their post season dreams, the third quarter woes continued as they were outscored 32-17 with the Magic opening up an 82-61 lead.
KLove finally got off the schneid in the 4th as he connected on a 3 as the Cavaliers battled back and started running the full court press before Love hit another trey that tied the game as at 104.
“I think it started with the defensive end of the floor and that was the most important thing, us being able to get stops and get out early on the offensive end and not have to play against their set defense the entire time,” said Bickerstaff. “We played with force, I thought Cedi was really good attacking the basket, knocking down some shots , I think that group collectively played with some spirit.”
The Magic retook the lead and a costly Darius Garland turnover essentially ended the Cavaliers comeback as Orlando prevailed 109-104.
While a lack of effort highlighted their loss to Toronto, that was not the case on Wednesday and Bickerstaff credits the full-court press for igniting the ill-fated comeback.
“I just thought we needed some sort of spark, the guys were trying the first 3 quarters but we just couldn’t find that pop. I thought we were the aggressor and I thought our defense triggered us to make us more aggressive.
Attacking the paint, knocking down open shots, converting on their turnovers.
The character of our group shined through, when they’re down, they’re not going to back down, they not going to give in, they gave up all they had.”
Darius Garland led the Wine and Gold with 25 points and 10 assists while Jarrett Allen tallied a double-double with 17 points and 13 boards while Cedi Osman finished with 19 and Isaac Okoro with 15.
Garry Harris led the Magic with 19 while Cole Anthony and Chuma Okeke finished off matching 18-point nights for Orlando who snapped a 6-game skid with the win over the Wine and Gold.
Cavaliers are off Thursday but will host the Wizards Friday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Wine and Gold lost the last meeting in D.C. last Sunday 119-110 to the Wiz. Tipoff set for Friday at 7:30.