Orlando +7.5 at Cavs - Game 5

[OH10]

Cavs have to spot match to use their advantages. And yes, outside of Lebron, we have some advantages.

First of all, Z should only play when Gortat is in the game. He would own that guy on the offensive glass and would eliminate any post presence on the other end of the Court. That would be a big advantage for the Cavs during those sequences.

Second, Boobie needs to come in anytime Anthony Johnson is in the game. Johnson can't keep up with Boobie and SVG isn't smart enough to realize that AJ would post Boobie up pretty good.

Third, continue to platoon Big Ben and AV on Dwight Howard all game, but do NOT double down on him. He just kicks it out, they swing it around and eventually there's a wide open three. Let's live and die with one-on-one defense against Superman.

[Flocka]

Originally Posted by buckeyesin07

Couldn't this be said about every game of the series so far? The Cavs have consistently failed to shoot well and the Magic have consistently shot the lights out, playing well above how they have performed in the past. The more of this series I watch, the more I just think that this really is a terrible matchup for the Cavs.

And I agree. The good thing for the Cavs is that the Magic fail to exploit it to the point where the Cavs don't have chance. The Cavs are a couple shots away from perhaps being up 3-1. If West or Mo had step up and made there open threes at the end of the games 1 and 4 things could be extremely different.

[Flocka]

Originally Posted by OH10

Cavs have to spot match to use their advantages. And yes, outside of Lebron, we have some advantages.

First of all, Z should only play when Gortat is in the game. He would own that guy on the offensive glass and would eliminate any post presence on the other end of the Court. That would be a big advantage for the Cavs during those sequences.

Second, Boobie needs to come in anytime Anthony Johnson is in the game. Johnson can't keep up with Boobie and SVG isn't smart enough to realize that AJ would post Boobie up pretty good.

Third, continue to platoon Big Ben and AV on Dwight Howard all game, but do NOT double down on him. He just kicks it out, they swing it around and eventually there's a wide open three. Let's live and die with one-on-one defense against Superman.

Couldn't agree with you more. And another advantage Wallace has over Dwight is he has the ability to keep him further away from the basket than Andy or V. And Dwight has now shown an offensive prowess when is more than a couple feet from the hoop. Why LeBron and Delonte and Mo want to run to him every time he has the ball is beyond me.

[OH10]

Originally Posted by bigballin2987

Why LeBron and Delonte and Mo want to run to him every time he has the ball is beyond me.

Biggest problem the Cavs have had so far. It leads to a wide open 3 over half the time.

[buckeyesin07]

The Cavs must start winning the fourth quarter. In the first four games, they've lost the fourth quarter by 5, 5, 5, and 1 points, respectively. The Magic's inability to win the fourth quarter is why they had so much trouble closing out the Celtics.

[OH10]

Either we win by 20 or Lebron is going off for 50+ tonight in a tight one. Book it.

[mooktarr]

Go Cavs but I bet on the Magic.

[Brutus1]

Originally Posted by OH10

Biggest problem the Cavs have had so far. It leads to a wide open 3 over half the time.

Agreed. Everyone talks about stopping Howard, but he's not the reason they are down 3-1. Their 3 point shooting is the only reason. Well, most of the reason. Let Howard get all the dunks/shots he can get by guarding him man, with all the help defense sticking with their own guys. They don't have to be on their man like glue, but just enough to get a hand in their face instead of the wide open three.

Orlando has played great so far. Hell, they're 1 shot from having a 4-0 sweep. On the other hand, the Cavs are 2 shots from a 3-1 lead themselves. Mike Brown just has to pull out all the stops and if necessary, switch Lebron to whomever has the hot shooting hand among Alston, Lewis, Hedo or Pietrus.

[BoxCar_Willie]

Am I the only one who thinks Brown is not that sweet of a coach?

[Piney]

Originally Posted by BoxCar_Willie

Am I the only one who thinks Brown is not that sweet of a coach?

I don't think that is it. He is a defensive minded coach and the defensive style he loves is just a HORRIBLE matchup with Orlando (or should I say he doesn't have the players needed for it to work against Orlando). You can see he is reaching trying to find something that sticks. I think the big thing that has happened is he has been frazzled that his defense isn't working and that has affected his overall coaching.

He is just stuck in a position that the best lineup for the Cavs is the small lineup, but we don't have enough guys that help this. Wally gives effort and can be annoying for the other team, but he can be abused individually on defense and if he isn't hitting his shots, he doesn't help the offense as much. Sasha is either in the game or not. He can have a game like in Game 2 where he doesn't have alot of mental lapses and can really help the team, but at the same time it is more likely to see Game 3 Sasha who just isn't mentally there and REALLY hurts the team. Gibson is streaky and can't really defend. Besides that... who is there? You really want to bring Kinsley out there? So while it is easy to say 'go small' we don't really have a good small lineup either.

It just really points out we don't have a decent swingman that can come off the bench. We don't have a Pietrus on this team. I just so wish Posey would have came over in free agency as he would have been perfect. This better be something they address in the offseason (hopefully we don't have to talk about this for another couple weeks)

As for game 5, I really think we win this game relatively easy. If we can get up by 15-20 points early like we did in the first 2 games I really think Orlando starts thinking "no problem, now we can close out the series at home" and won't give the effort they had in Game 1 & 2 to get back in the game.

Plus, if all else fails, I really think LeBron will put everything on his shoulders and have a monster game to prevent the Cavs from losing the series in Game 5 on our home floor.

[Ttown]

Originally Posted by BoxCar_Willie

Am I the only one who thinks Brown is not that sweet of a coach?

Yes , if you will agree that the Cavs don't look capable of beating them.

[buckeyesin07]

Originally Posted by Piney

As for game 5, I really think we win this game relatively easy. If we can get up by 15-20 points early like we did in the first 2 games I really think Orlando starts thinking "no problem, now we can close out the series at home" and won't give the effort they had in Game 1 & 2 to get back in the game.

Same argument could have been made about game 2--Orlando had already achieved its goal of getting a split in Cleveland for games 1 and 2, and the Cavs were up 22 in the first half, yet Orlando still gave one heck of an effort and came within an eyelash of winning the game. I just don't see them quitting in Game 5 in light of that track record.

[Buckeye Nut]

Originally Posted by Piney

I don't think that is it. He is a defensive minded coach and the defensive style he loves is just a HORRIBLE matchup with Orlando (or should I say he doesn't have the players needed for it to work against Orlando).

Thank you! Orlando has better players folks! I heard a great point on the radio today, if there were a pickup basketball game with these two rosters and you were choosing players four of the first five picks would be Magic players....and they are right. It's simply tougher to win when you're going up against a superior roster. Sure Brown has made some mistakes, but his margin for error is not very large especially when guys you think you can count on(Mo & Delonte) can't hit an open three. Sooner or later somebody has to go out there and perform, he can't go out there and hit the wide open three's that we're missing for them. Everybody keeps saying we're one shot away from getting swept, guess what we're also two Rashaard Lewis three's away from being up 3-1. If we just could've got one player besides LeBron in games 1 and 4 to step up, we're up 3-1 and nobody is saying a word about how terrible Mike Brown is.

[Piney]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Nut

Thank you! Orlando has better players folks!

It is not really about who the better players are. It is the TYPE of player and their style that is the most important issue. While Orlando plays small, they aren't small.

[Buckeneye]

Friend of mine got tickets lowest bowl row 4 opposite Orlando's bench for tonight... I'm going.

Look for a giant sign that says either "Give Florida back to Spain"

or

*Team Ohio*

James
Pryor
Sizemore
Quinn


Not sure which yet.