Let's revisit the last post Game 1 Observations specifically the 'series take-a-ways' of what the Magic needed to do to make this a series

What's going on with the Magic?

Franz and Paolo learning to deal with Playoff physicality

• Franz is shooting 37% from the field and after trying to use him as a secondary ballhandler to initiate the offense yesterday he had 6 TOs, he's averaging a little more than 2 assists per game

• Paolo needs help, esp initiating the offense, Mobley is absolutely terrorizing him, Paolo is averaging 7.5 TOs per game in this series…he even admitted to "playing frustrated" in the post game presser

• Completely anecdotal, but I felt a change in the energy each was playing with, they iso'd less and called for the ball less as the game went on this could have been coaching as that many TOs from your offensive initiators will lose you a game, or it could have been frustration

Getting dominated in the paint

• Allen is averaging 19 boards per game in this series, the magic haven't had anyone get more than 7 boards in a game, JA is absolutely dominating the paint and I don't see a realistic way to change this w/o giving up wide open shots to our guards

• Playing Moe Wagner gives them more energy but he is getting COOKED on the defensive end, his foot speed is too slow to play 21+ mins in this series, a bit of desperation out of Mosley to play him such big minutes, he did emotionally lift them but his play isn't good enough to justify the minutes moving forward

Getting out in transition

• The Magic can't crack our half-court defense, but they aren't running off of misses either, 96% of their transition points are off turnovers, meaning 4% are from running off of a miss

• The magic have no chance against us if they can't convert misses to transition buckets, I would even consider changing the offensive philosophy to take every open shot regardless of the shot clock, hunting looks in the half-court is not working

On to plan B (maybe C?)

• Starting Jonathan Isaac (who only started 2 games during the reg season) was a gamble that Mosley seems to be over trying, Isaac took and missed a lot of 3's then got banished to the bench for the second half…Isaac is a good player but asking him to stretch the floor and bang with JA is not leaning into his skillset

• Fultz has been unplayable, can't shoot, doesn't defend…they desperately need play making but he's obv in Mosley's dog house he got beat by Donovan in the 1st quarter (not really transition, Donovan just attacked their defense and Fultz never stopped ball) and gave up a pretty easy layup was pulled from the game and didn't play again

• The Magic played 11 guys in a playoff game, JB is prob too tight with his rotations but playing 11 guys seems more like desperation than executing a game plan

• Suggs is a good defender but he doesn't get around picks very cleanly (as opposed to Okoro who excels at this) and that's limiting his potential impact in this series as you have to put him off ball or get him beat up all game long, I think you have to change this and challenge Suggs to guard Donovan directly

• In the postgame pressers, each of the main members of the Magic are leaning into "They are getting off to hot starts and we can't recover", Mosley is a good coach I hope this is just a soundbite bc it's a terrible coaching philosophy to claim the game is out of your hands and you have to hope to have a good start for any chance to compete…all the above is to say, they are extremely frustrated as a team from top to bottom right now

Our Cavaliers

The BIGs

• I can't emphasize enough how dominate JA has been, I honestly think it's to the point where you ignore that problem and focus on others, no way to change this dynamic in this series without creating bigger holes elsewhere

• Mobley is the most versatile defender in the league, he's equally adept at guarding an iso all-star 1:1 or cleaning up mistakes at the rim, this skillset is extremely rare if his offensive game continues to grow the ceiling on this entire team goes up to true contenders

• We are averaging 20% more boards than them per game, dominance in the paint

The all-star guards

• We haven't seen a signature game from either of them yet, average play from Donovan is still all-star level but there is another level up from here for both

• DG is clearly (head and shoulders) the best guard on the floor when it comes to playmaking (#2, also clearly is Donovan) the assists don't bare this out as much but DG is orchestrating our offense in a way the Magic guards just aren't capable of, I especially love when he dribbles through the key ala Steve Nash keeping his dribble and finding a cutter or open shooter

• Mosley is putting Suggs on DG, basically admitting no one can bother Donovan off the bounce and in my opinion admitting Suggs can't slow him down…if I were a magic fan I would be pissed about this, your best defender has to step up to the challenge

• Our guards aren't dominating quite like the bigs but they are moving the ball and making big shots in big moments (Donovan's two layups when they went on their run in the 4th were huge), they are letting the game come to them and focusing on getting good looks for the team instead of looks for themselves…Donovan's improvement in playmaking since his Utah days can't be overstated enough

The supporting cast

• First off, there isn't much of one, we played 8 guys yesterday (pls get healthy D Wade!)

• We haven't had a role player go off yet, if any of Strus/Niang/LaVert/Okoro go off in a game, I don't see how we possibly lose

• With the above being said, each of the guys listed have been playing their role on defense and playing smart on offense, we can go deep if nothing else changes with this group

• This is all to say, we haven't seen a 'lucky' game yet

The coaching staff

• Jamahl Mosley is a good coach, the Magic are lucky to have him, he is trying to play chess w/o all the pieces
• With the above said, JB and his staff are coaching circles around the Magic
• They cannot find any answers for our half-court defense, but JB also has the guys focused on getting back in transition 4% of 'fast break' points have come from misses for Orlando
• JB has the teams respect, did anyone else catch him going OFF on our defensive principals in the second quarter, he's ripping guys while dominating a playoff game and they respect him enough to take the coaching
• We have successfully left them scrambling to find solutions to problems we are creating with their offense, Mosley is figuring out on the fly a new offensive philosophy as the Paolo/Franz iso is far too inefficient to be viable with this roster
• Give JB his roses, this has been a masterclass in exploiting a teams weaknesses and suffocating their best players…JB has a lot more to work with but don't overlook how he's using those pieces to their maximum extent so far

Moving forward from here

• I fully expect the Magic to come out in quarter 1 in game 3 like it's a game 7, they are circling the hot starts we've had in each game as the reason they lost (I don't agree, they are losing bc Allen is dominating the paint and their offense can't really be run when Mobley is on ball)

• The Magic are a talented team, their roster construction needs some major work, they need wing shooters a guard who can run an nba offense and a center who can rebound and move on defense…the best lesson for them from this series is a clear blueprint on what needs to improve this offseason

• The Magic got their 'role player' game yesterday when Moe Wagner emotionally lifted the team, they still lost by double digits, it's going to take a lot of things breaking the right way for the Magic to make this a competitive series

• If we get out to another hot start, look for heads hanging or hands on hips if their body language starts showing up I expect a sweep

If you got all the way to this point, thanks for reading, let me know what you think/are seeing in this series