How the Magic’s defensive adjustments stifled the Cavaliers

After the first two games, it appeared the Magic couldn’t adapt and match the Cavaliers’ physicality. After Game 3, it appears they might have found the cracks in the armor.

Thursday’s Game 2, while a resilient win for the Cleveland Cavaliers, illustrated a potential blueprint for the Orlando Magic.

While the Magic were clawing their way back in the fourth quarter, they adjusted and threw Jalen Suggs onto Donovan Mitchell and started doubling the All-NBA guard off on-ball screens.

While it appeared to catch the Cavaliers off guard at the time, the team was able to put Game 2 in the rearview leaving with the win. Something about those late-game adjustments offered pause to those looking for how Orlando would approach what felt like their kitchen sink game in Game 3.

Two things stood out about Orlando’s approach from the start. One was that Jonathan Isaac was removed from the starting center and replaced by Wendall Carter Jr. The other notable was that Jalen Suggs was matching up with Mitchell early and often.

For a majority of the series, Gary Harris was assigned to Mitchell and the Orlando brass trusted that matchup. However, that sliver of Suggs on Mitchell in the fourth quarter did bear fruit for good defensive results in game three. Suggs and the Magic were able to drain the Cavaliers’ offense of any life and juice.

Suggs was a blanket on both guards in game three. According to NBA.com, Jalen Suggs spent a majority of his time on the floor defensively matched against Mitchell. In the roughly seven minutes of the game, Mitchell struggled to generate looks. In the five-shot attempts that Mitchell was able to get off, he only converted two of those looks. Suggs as a whole in the game held his defensive assignment to a 22% field goal percentage on 2-9 shooting.

The Magic, alongside the Suggs assignment, were committed to hounding Mitchell off the screens the Cavaliers were executing with success in the first two games. While there were glimpses early showing growth from last postseason, this became a daunting task for the offense. It appears that even though they could break through at times, it still mucked up the offense, especially Mitchell who could only muster 13 points on 6-16 shooting.

The Cavaliers’ offense, in a microcosm for the whole season, has felt that it can only succeed as much as Mitchell does. Last night was an example of this, the team struggled from all facets. The Cavaliers essentially had the script flipped on them shooting an abysmal 8-34 (23.5%) from three, while struggling to generate looks from the rim as only 27% of their shots came from there as opposed to the over 37% that happened the previous two games.

From Game 3:

Screenshot taken from Cleaning the Glass

From Game 2, same stats:

Screenshot taken from Cleaning the Glass

From Game 1, same stats:

Screenshot taken from Cleaning the Glass

The Magic essentially took the defensive approach the Cavaliers have used on them for two games and forced Cleveland to beat them from the outside in. While the Cavaliers haven’t necessarily been riding a hot streak from the perimeter, the threes they were making felt timely and necessary. If they cannot find ways to get to the rim, the offense can continue to flounder.

For the Cavaliers, facing a team that can force a lot of defensive pressure in round 1 is a necessary challenge. The Cavs can use Game 4 as a stepping stone and adapt to Orlando’s defensive counterpunch. The Magic showed that all it can take to swing a game in your favor is minor adjustments. The Cavaliers have the opportunity to provide their response and swing the series back in their favor.