{"id":129005,"date":"2025-03-16T17:40:36","date_gmt":"2025-03-16T21:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=129005"},"modified":"2025-03-16T17:40:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-16T21:40:36","slug":"magic-vs-cavs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/16\/magic-vs-cavs\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic Find Cavs\u2019 Weakness for Championship Aspirations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers have the best record in the league. They have had two 15-game win streaks<\/a> during this season. While many view the team as a championship contender, the latest Magic vs Cavs matchup showed a glaring weakness. Did the Magic show everyone how they can beat the Cavs? Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n

Magic Find Cavs\u2019 Weakness for Championship Aspirations<\/h2>\n

Since last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers have struggled against teams with talented wings. That was the main reason they traded for De\u2019Andre Hunter<\/a> at the trade deadline. The small forward position was the glaring weakness of the Cavs.<\/p>\n

Against the Magic, it showed again. Franz Wagner<\/a> and Paolo Banchero<\/a> torched the Cavs. Without Evan Mobley<\/a> to protect the paint, Banchero and Wagner constantly blew by defenders and attacked the rim. While they didn\u2019t shoot particularly well, the Magic\u2019s forwards had almost as many free throws as the entire Cavs team. They combined for 14-17, with Banchero going 9-11. For comparison, the Cavs as a whole went 13-20 from the free-throw line.<\/p>\n

The Cavs are well covered on the guard and big men positions. But the forward position is something that teams might try to explore in the playoffs. In the playoffs, it is all about the team who manages to exploit matchups better.<\/p>\n

Should the Cleveland Cavaliers be Worried?<\/h3>\n

If the Cavaliers fail to defend the small forward position, they are in for a treat in the playoffs. Right now, the Orlando Magic are the 8th seed. Last year in the playoffs, these two battled up to Game 7. The Cavs certainly do not want a hard-fought series against the Magic in the first round. Due to the injuries to Paolo and Franz, the Magic fell down the standings. A Magic vs Cavs matchup is a bittersweet reward for claiming the No.1 seed in the East.<\/p>\n

But it only goes worse from there. The Milwaukee Bucks sit at the fourth seed. They might be the Cavs\u2019 potential opponent in the Eastern Semi-Finals. Yes, the Cavs have won all four of their matchups<\/a> this season. But three of them came in November and December when the Bucks were going one of the worst teams in the league. If Paolo and Franz can get to the free-throw line at will, what about Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>? He has averaged 10+ FTs four seasons in a row.<\/p>\n

But the biggest challenge might come in the Eastern Conference Finals, against the Boston Celtics. The teams split the season series<\/a>, but the Celtics have two of the best wings in the league in Jayson Tatum<\/a> and Jaylen Brown<\/a>. Tatum shoots more than six free throws per game, while Brown averages little over five.<\/p>\n

The Good News for the Cavs<\/h3>\n

The good news for the Cavs is that all of this rim damage came without their All-Defensive center. When Mobley is on the floor, attacking the rim is not an easy task. The Cavs will hope he doesn\u2019t suffer an injury on their championship run<\/a>. Mobley is also not someone teams can take out of the game by chasing fouls. This year, he has been much better at staying away from silly fouls. He averages only two fouls per game, an almost 50% decrease from the last two years. Last season, he averaged 2.7, and 2.8 the one before.<\/p>\n

Now that the Cavs have lost the 11th game of the season, they can put away any ideas of chasing 70+ wins<\/a>. The pressure should be off. They have a relatively easy schedule until the end of the season. The Cavs can use the remaining games to rest their players when necessary and get healthy for the stretch run.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 David Richard-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers have the best record in the league. They have had two 15-game win streaks during this season. While many view the team as a championship contender, the latest Magic vs Cavs matchup showed a glaring weakness. Did the Magic show everyone how they can beat the Cavs? Let\u2019s take a look. Magic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":129018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,5,9,15,62,17],"tags":[3966,4127,306,450,798,3823],"class_list":["post-129005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-cavaliers","category-bucks","category-nba","category-magic","tag-evan-mobley","tag-franz-wagner","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-paolo-banchero"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129005"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129019,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129005\/revisions\/129019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}