{"id":654186,"date":"2026-03-12T09:25:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/654186\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T09:25:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:25:40","slug":"winners-and-losers-cavs-at-magic-three-point-surge-comes-too-late-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/654186\/","title":{"rendered":"Winners and Losers: Cavs at Magic \u2013 Three-point surge comes too late"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">The <a href=\"http:\/\/fearthesword.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Cleveland Cavaliers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Cleveland Cavaliers&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> lost to the Orlando Magic 128-122 in a game that didn\u2019t feel as close as it looked. Let\u2019s go over today\u2019s winners and losers.<\/p>\n<p>LOSER \u2013 Foul Trouble<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Do you like free throws?<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">If you answered yes, then the last two nights of NBA basketball must have been a dream. As for the rest of us, this is getting old.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">I\u2019m not here to complain about the whistle. Refs miss calls all the time, though, I will point out that Cleveland has had to (successfully) use both of their challenges more than a few times recently. Simply getting it right the first time would be preferable. Not T\u2019ing up a player for being upset about the umpteeth incorrect call is even better.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">And if you really want to do your job, maybe get a crucial out-of-bounds call right at the end of the game. There are a million cameras in the arena. We review countless plays each game. Why does Kenny Atkinson need a third challenge to get the correct call?<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Now that\u2019s out of my system, let\u2019s talk about where the Cavs are at fault.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Protecting the paint starts with securing the perimeter. Free paths to the basket can put your helpside defense into awkward positions. Orlando\u2019s runway drives to the rim took full advantage of this tonight. The Cavs couldn\u2019t seal the gaps, and Evan Mobley was routinely tasked with having to clean things up. That resulted in four fouls to start the third quarter for Mobley.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Naturally, the game changes when your defensive anchor is in foul trouble. Not having Jarrett Allen makes it worse. The Magic continued to attack the paint, knowing that Mobley was at a disadvantage. And the game grew chippier as it went on.<\/p>\n<p>WINNER \u2013 James Harden vs The Mismatch<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Orlando opened this game with Paolo Banchero defending James Harden. It\u2019s honorable for the opposing team\u2019s best player to accept a defensive challenge like this. Was it a good idea? Probably not.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Harden didn\u2019t appear bothered at all by Banchero. In fact, he actively hunted him in isolation. Harden accelerated around PB multiple times in the first half en route to 16 points on 6-9 shooting. We saw some classic drives to the basket and stepback jumpers from Harden along the way.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Cavs\u2019 offense never felt like it was fully rolling tonight. The Magic did a fine job of turning this game into a rock fight. Harden delivered the only moments that felt smooth. He felt little resistance getting around Banchero and was just as successful whenever he drew Wendell Carter Jr. onto the perimeter, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Harden finished with 30 points (11-16 shooting) and 8 assists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Drawing and beating mismatches will prove valuable in the playoffs. We\u2019ve known for a full decade that Harden thrives in those scenarios. It\u2019s good to see it in Cleveland, even with a loss.<\/p>\n<p>LOSER \u2013 Spacing<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Okay, listen, you\u2019re gonna have to bear with me on this. Because if it wasn\u2019t for a late surge of three-point shooting from the Cavs, this category would have made perfect sense.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Before Cleveland\u2019s near comeback in the final minutes, the Cavs had been shooting 12-35 from downtown. Not too shabby, but certainly not great.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Now let\u2019s add more context.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Orlando made their goal pretty clear tonight. Pack the paint defensively and funnel to the ball to Cleveland\u2019s role players. That put pressure on Dean Wade, Jaylon Tyson, Dennis Schroder, and even Evan Mobley to space the floor and make plays. They all combined to sh00t 0-5. That speaks for itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Other players did step up. In fact, it was Keon Ellis going ballistic in the final frame that snapped the Cavs back to life. Sam Merrill and James Harden were plenty efficient, as well. But if you focus on the players whom Orlando dared to beat them \u2014 you can see why the Magic had success.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Cleveland\u2019s offense sputtered throughout the night. Sometimes, you just need a barrage of three-pointers to get you out of the ditch. That barrage came just a few minutes too late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Orlando Magic 128-122 in a game that didn\u2019t feel as close as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,193,5759,1024,576,420,560,1178,2286,3211,48,6,47,76,3883,402,1166,454],"class_list":{"0":"post-654186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando-magic","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","10":"tag-dean-wade","11":"tag-dennis-schroder","12":"tag-evan-mobley","13":"tag-florida","14":"tag-james-harden","15":"tag-jarrett-allen","16":"tag-jaylon-tyson","17":"tag-keon-ellis","18":"tag-magic","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-orlando","21":"tag-orlando-magic","22":"tag-orlandomagic","23":"tag-paolo-banchero","24":"tag-sam-merrill","25":"tag-wendell-carter-jr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116215490448606869","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}