Game night preview
ORLANDO MAGIC at CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
Thursday, Feb. 11. 8:00 p.m. TNT
Quicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, OH
It’s the matchup Orlando Magic fans have been waiting for. It’s a contest that may go a long way in determining who
has the upper hand in the Eastern Conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers (42-11, 23-3 home) and Magic (36-17, 16-12 road), each seeded No. 1 and 2 respectively in the East at the beginning of the week, will clash in a pivotal meeting on Thursday, the final night before the All-Star break, at 8 p.m. ET in the Forest City. This will be the second meeting between these two clubs this season. The Cavaliers won in O-Town in November. Last season, Cleveland and Orlando battled in a memorable playoff series, featuring extraordinary comebacks by the Magic, a game-winning buzzer-beater by LeBron James and a monster performance by Dwight Howard to seal Orlando’s trip to the NBA Finals. Unlike 2008-09, however, each team’s roster is vastly different. The Cavs possess one of the game’s all-time greatest centers in Shaquille O’Neal and the Magic have eight-time All-Star Vince Carter to go along with a deeper bench. Although they will be exhausted playing for the fifth time in seven days, the Magic understand how important this game is and one can expect them to come out with a vengeance in front of a national audience. This is a can’t-miss showdown for Magic fans.| Team | Record | Standings | PF | PA | Road/Home | Streak | L10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orlando | 36-17 | 1st Southeast / 2nd East | 101.1 | 95.6 | Road 16-12 | Won 3 | 8-2 |
| Cleveland | 42-11 | 1st Central / 1st East | 101.4 | 94.0 | Home 23-3 | Won 12 | 10-0 |
Here is the complete preview from Yahoo! Sports.
The Cavaliers are 6 point favorites.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 5:58 PM
5 Comments:
At 6:08 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
The Cavs are playing great basketball, and they are doing so without Mo Williams and Delonte West, who are nursing injuries; but the Cavaliers haven't faced a team as strong as the Magic in quite some time.
No doubt the Magic have the superior depth, though, and that could go a long way in determining who wins the game tonight, as the Cavaliers can't match the Magic depth. Daniel Gibson has done a nice job in the starting lineup replacing Mo Williams, but that leaves the Cavs with very little guard depth on the bench.
As long as the Magic can control LeBron James from scoring astro-points, and can do a reasonable job against his supporting cast, I like the Magic's chances of ending the Cavs' long winning streak.
I'm sure Shaq will try his best to get D12 in quick foul trouble; Dwight needs to keep his focus and not get distracted by foul calls. It's very important he's able to stay in the game.
Matt, I really like your confidence and optimism in you predicting a Magic victory tonight.
At 6:12 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
To all you Cavaliers' fans who come on here and post: If you can discuss the game in an intelligent manner without any name-calling, personal attacks, offensive remarks or trolling, you are welcome to post.
If you can't adhere to these guidelines, your comments will be deleted.
At 7:22 PM,
Matt said…
Mike:
My optimism is only based on objective analysis. Even last year, our back-court held its own on CAV's. With Williams and West being out, our back-court should do better than theirs. Shaq has improved their front-line, but they are still no match for Dwight and Rashard. As for LeBron, last year we only had MP, and let him get his points yet they lost. This year we have Matt, MP and J.J. to take turns in slowing him down, not to mention Vince getting that unenviable task occasionally.
Additionally, Magic has been more consistent lately, especially on team defense, which has compensated for our only defensive liability being the PGs'. I am firm at my prediction of Magic by 6.
At 7:41 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
The Cavaliers are shooting a remarkable 48.7% from the field and 40.4% on three point attempts, so the Magic defense will have their work cut out for them, but they are more than capable of shutting the Cavaliers down.
At 7:48 PM,
Big Figure said…
The magic need to play fast and furious and run shaq's big behind to death. This will be the first match-up with our full team able to play,we need to jump on them early and take their home crowd out of the game. First(1)keep playing through dwight offensively and everything should be fine. (2)Dwight has to stay on the floor. (3 Rebound!
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