| 30 May 2009
There's only so much one man can do, no matter how many sponsorships, commercials portraying him as a cocaine loving puppet, and YouTube highlights that feature him.
And unfortunately for the LeBron James and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2009 NBA MVP was just not provided with enough help in this game and in this series to give them four victories against the Orlando Magic. Early on, you could see LeBron trying to keep pace with the multitude of weapons that Stan Van Gundy's squad throws at you. LeBron dropped in 13 points on 5/7 shooting in the first quarter and all that was good enough for was a five-point deficit and an inordinate amount of energy that James had to expend just to keep the Cavs competitive. Dwight Howard matched James' 13 first quarter points with 13 of his own, with five of them coming off of four offensive rebounds. The tone was set early that the paint was being leased to Dwight Howard and he was thinking of taking ownership of it at some point in the game. He overpowered Anderson Varejao and Zyndrunas Ilgauskas like they were playing the role of Shawn Bradley to Dwight's Shaq.
Then the momentum of the game swung dramatically in Orlando's favor in the second quarter. All of a sudden, the Cleveland offense was more reminiscent of an Allen Iverson-led, under-matched 76ers team from the early part of the decade rather than the free flowing offense that opened up three-point shooters for much of this season. It wasn't really the fault of LeBron James. Mike Brown failed to implement a proper backup plan when the Magic took away the open lanes and open jumpers that Cleveland needed. It resulted in a lot of bad shots for the team. Their 50% field goal shooting in the first quarter dropped to 42.5% thanks to a 7/20 effort in the second quarter. Dwight Howard was still pounding the paint with eight more points to give him 21 at half and Rashard Lewis started to heat up with nine points in the quarter as the team had already netted seven three-point makes. The continued hot shooting for Orlando and the struggles of the Cavs offense resulted in a 28-15 second quarter margin that essentially buried the Cavs and provided the final margin of victory in the closeout game.
The rest of the game for the Cleveland Cavaliers was full of futility on offense and being outplayed on defense. It was frustration of realizing that they weren't the best team on the floor and that there would be no final run to get their playoff lives on the business end of a life support machine. LeBron was shown to be human after five jaw-dropping efforts of biblical proportions in the previous games of the series. The Cleveland big men looked to be too slow and not strong enough. The Cavs' perimeter defense was always a step too slow or a closeout defender too short to challenge the long-range shots. The offensive movement was stagnant to a degree that reminded me of a rec league team that wasn't sure how to beat a team that was physically dominant. And it was all due to the product of the Orlando Magic's game plan and effort.
Orlando on the other hand was crisp and swift in their team ball movement. They were too tall as shooters, too good at anticipating rebounds, and too prepared in stopping the Cleveland attack. Dwight Howard did what the best centers in the NBA are supposed to do in a game in which they're capable of knocking out their opponents from post-season play. He scored 40 points, grabbed 14 rebounds (six offensive), made 14/21 shots, 12/16 free throws and had four assists to his two turnovers. He was perfect in this game in setting the tone and breaking the Cavs confidence. By the end of the game and series, the Cavs were probably certain that the best team won this series.
Why the Magic Won This Game/Series
Three primary things helped secure the Magic winning four games against the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals. First, the Magic did a fantastic job in converting offensive rebounds into second chance points. Orlando scored 71 points in this series on 60 offensive rebounds. Most of that was due to the inspired play of Dwight Howard who made it his mission to make the Cavs suffer for not boxing him out with two guys. Second, the Magic players were just deadly from three-point range. They out-shot the Cavs 40.7% from three compared to 32.3%. The Magic made 20 more threes in this series than Cleveland and it constantly put the Cavs on their heels defensively and trying to dig themselves out of a hole on offense.
And finally, the play of Mickael Pietrus was what put Orlando over the top and into their first Finals appearance in 14 years. Pietrus made LeBron work on offense as much as you possibly can if you're not named James Posey. Mickael also outscored the entire Cleveland bench in this series by a count of 83 to 66. In the four Orlando wins, he outscored the Cavs bench 60 to 37 and outscored them in every single victory. He was a three-point threat that needed to be there out of double teams and poor defensive rotations.
Why the Cavs Lost This Game/Series
Cleveland lost this series because they simply didn't have enough firepower around LeBron James to get over the hump against Orlando. LeBron James averaged 38.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 8.0 assists in this series. He scored 38% of Cleveland's points in the six games against the Magic. His teammates let him down by not fighting with him. We saw the old, busted offensive scheme of a Mike Brown-led team in which LeBron was forced to create everything in a one on five set while his teammates stood around, watching like spectators. Delonte West was the only guy that consistently had enough heart to battle with the MVP. And everybody else was fine with being the equivalent of a groupie looking to get benefits from experiencing an NBA great impose his physical prowess on everybody. The result was too many close losses in a series that felt to be eerily one-sided. LeBron's ridiculous numbers and hard fought effort are what should be remembered in this failed playoff run. Unfortunately, the only thing anyone will be talking about this next year will be his refusal to talk to the media after he was eliminated from the title push.
Heading into the NBA Finals
I'll have a NBA Finals preview for you fairly soon but in a short glimpse ahead to the final games of the NBA season, it's hard to think that Orlando won't come in and put up a great fight. They were successful all season long against the NBA's elite teams and have proven that it wasn't a fluke this post-season. They've started off the last two series against supposedly better teams by taking the first game on the road and immediately putting their opponents in a big hole. They've implanted self-doubt and paranoia early in the series and capitalized on that with dominant play inside and deft three-point shooting. There's no reason to think that they can't do that against the Lakers in the NBA Finals. But they'll be trying to do so with a team that has the inside presence and the defensive length to bother what the Magic do best.
Prediction: Come back for the NBA Finals Previews and Predictions before Thursday
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