Previewing the Cleveland Cavaliers' Game Against the Orlando Magic with Philip Rossman-Reich

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On today's show, the Casabac in action on Wednesday night in Orlando against the Magic

Philip Rosman right from Lockdown Magic stops by, we talked through everything and what

this could potentially look like if these two teams do meet in a postseason series.

That's all straight ahead on this latest edition of Lockdown Caves.

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Philip Rossman writes, stops by on today's show as we talk about what does magic on

Wednesday night between the Caves and your Orlando Magic could look like.

Orlando going to be without Franz Wagner going to be without Anthony Black in the

Caves, still without Jared Allen, still without Max Trues, Tyrese Proctor, also out

of not that he's necessarily in the rotation right now.

But that is a quick injury update for Wednesday's game.

Between these two teams, this is the third of four matchups between the Caves and

the magic Cleveland has won the first two.

So a win on Wednesday night would give the Caves the season tiebreaker,

which I don't ultimately think will matter with the Caps holding.

I believe a four game lead over Orlando entering this game on Wednesday,

but it is something that is worth keeping in mind.

So without anything else for me, let's get down to business.

The third of four matchups between the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Orlando

Magic set to take place on Wednesday night in Orlando.

Philip Rossman, right?

I believe we'll be there.

I will not be there, but he knows everything about the Orlando Magic from his

time covering this team over at Lockdown Magic.

And we're going to talk to him about everything that's been going on because

since the last time we spoke, the Orlando Magic have played a lot better.

Philip, Paul Bencaro has been much better.

Orlando is, I believe, seven and three over their last 10 games.

They've won four consecutive ones entering this matchup on Wednesday against the

Caves.

What's been going right for Orlando lately?

I mean, the biggest thing is they've gotten back to playing defense.

And the elite level defense that this team has been known for for the last

couple of years.

And it kind of they've lost it a little bit this year.

They've spent a lot of the year kind of in that middle tier in like the teens

and even some of the late teens on defensive rating.

And more than anything, that's one of the reasons why the magic of struggle is

just their defense couldn't really kind of get a rhythm or couldn't impact

games way that they used to.

And now, they're coming off a weekend where they played the Minnesota

Terminals and walkie-bucks on the road.

They had two of their four best defensive ratings of the season in any game

this year.

And so I believe they're up to six in defensive rating since the since the

all-star break in the 10 games since the all-star break.

They're up to, I believe, 11th overall right around where the Caves are in

those rankings if I'm not mistaken.

So the Magic's defense is kind of back to the level of intensity that they

wanted at.

And that's fed the offense a little bit and gotten them gotten them some wins

and gotten the chances to win.

What's been up with Parliament Carroll?

Because he has been somebody that I think polarizing is maybe a fair way to

put it like the talent with him obviously is there.

I think it's been fair to question the impact on winning that he's had in the

past. But like recently, the recent stretch of play that he's put forth,

I think we've seen those two things blend together where he has been a

really impactful winning player in a way that maybe he hasn't always been.

What have you seen from him?

Yeah, I mean, I think this this season's been weird for Palo and there's no

doubt about that.

And obviously there's the all the on-off numbers.

And you know, he may not just be everyone's cup of tea or he, you know,

he's a 23 year old, so kind of figuring himself out in the league.

But really since the all-star break, I'd say since January 1st is when

things really turned around.

And he had and had a nice game against Cleveland when they went to Cleveland.

But really, really sits the all-star break.

He is looked a little bit spriary.

He's looked a little bit more physical, looked a little bit more willing to

take hits, get to the basket, a little bit more explosive.

So he uses all-star break.

It seems like to kind of whip himself back into shape a little bit.

I don't like to say back into shape use.

I like to say he was in the wrong shape entering the season, not bad shape.

Because you know, like guys try things in the other off season.

Sometimes it doesn't work and it clearly didn't work for Palo.

But he started to find a way to kind of work around it.

He's getting to the basket a lot more.

He's taking all season.

He's been taking fewer mid-range jumpers.

But now he seems to trust his jumper a little bit.

So he's making the few mid-range jumpers.

He takes, he's making some more threes.

He's even taking on some of the bigger defensive challenges for the team.

Some of that is by his own admission by,

by necessity because the match card without Franz Wagner.

They don't have a lot of big bodies out there.

So he's a big body that they could throw at him.

Goodonchuk, a Kevin Durant and the magic switch a lot anyway.

But he's taken, but regardless of how you feel about his defense or whether

the magic have to play him in some of these matchups,

he's played well defensively and it's taken on that responsibility.

And I think that added focus as much as anything has really helped him kind of

lock in on both ends of the floor.

And in a day, it's just about production.

He's scoring more.

He's using himself as a decoy a lot better.

He's just been a lot more effective and efficient.

And that's that's helped him and the team play a lot better.

I mean, regardless,

the man he does have a plus point for net rating for the season.

I think since the also break, he's plus like five net rating overall.

But when he's off the floor, it's down to like plus 1.2 since the

also break, I think it's January 1st or like minus five when he's off the floor

and like minus two or three when he's on the floor.

So the magic need him on the floor.

And right now he's playing really, really well.

You brought up Franz Wagner who I believe has not played since the magic

played in Europe earlier this season, which was he played two games since then.

But yes, he played only four games since December 7th, which is not a lot of

games over the course of a long stretch of time.

And the last time the Cavs in Orlando played, which were two back to back games,

one in Orlando, one in Cleveland, Franz did not play in either of those.

We are recording this early afternoon on Tuesday.

So the injury report for Wednesday's game is not yet out, although the magic.

Yes, he's out and we'll get to Anthony Black who I presume will be out as

well for that game.

But we got an update from Orlando as far as the injuries go there, which I

really don't think was much of an update on Tuesday morning.

But what's the latest that you've heard with Franz?

Like, which is how do you expect this situation to play out moving forward?

Yeah, so initially, so Franz played the last two games before the all-star break.

And we all questioned why he would play those games just because like,

look, just give him the extra couple of days.

And, and look, I think, I think Franz had his word that he thought he was

ready to play for both games and high ankle sprains are really, really tricky.

They're kind of an odd injury.

It's hard to explain exactly what a high ankle sprain is.

And I think he was generally ready to thought he was ready to play and then he

played and just the pain became too much and he had to sit himself out again.

And so I think the magic are being a little bit more cautious.

Hey, they rarely give timelines for re-evaluation.

They told us three weeks at the all-star break would be when they re-evaluate him.

Three weeks is tomorrow.

So this is our re-evaluation of him.

He's not on the court yet.

He's still kind of in the back doing his own thing.

He didn't travel with the team this weekend, which could be a good sign that

he needed more time on the court is kind of focused on himself rather than

going through the trudgery of a back-to-back on the road.

But, you know, it's just unclear where Franz is at.

You know, even frankly, when they announced that he was out and was going to be

re-evaluated in three weeks, I became very skeptical that he was going to return

at all this season.

And that's not necessarily a statement about his health.

It's just to look at the timeline with, with, it was a, you know,

the Cleveland game on Wednesday is 11 games since the all-star break.

Magic at 29 games left after the all-star break.

So three weeks plus give him another week to, you know, because that's re-evaluation.

So another week to ramp up in the best of circumstances.

That's like 14, 15 of your 29 games.

That's half of your games that you got left.

I assume you'd want maybe a 10 game ramp up period.

We're quickly, you know, we're not there yet, obviously.

There's still 19 games left in the season.

But we're going to get there very, very quickly.

And so if there's not some significant improvement from France, I think in the next week or two,

it's very, very likely that he's done that they're going to shut him down for the season.

Because, you know, yeah, the Magiker and the fight for fifth and they're hanging

or they're, they're very much in that playoff race.

I would even say they control their own destiny because they play the Raptors one more time.

The question is whether it's worth it at all to fight for the season.

When, you know, you're not going to be at your best and you're not going to really

have that chance to attend for title and, you know, maybe some big off season decisions

or perhaps already made, like, what are you going to learn other than just risking

a longer term injury before you regroup before next season?

So there's a lot, I think, for the magic to consider, you know, they're in the race.

And I think that does open the door for France to return.

But it certainly feels less and less likely, especially now that it doesn't seem

like he's anywhere near close.

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You brought up the playoff picture.

And that's where I wanted to go next because they are one game.

As we record this, they're one game back of the Raptors for fifth place.

They are percentage points ahead of Miami for six place.

Both teams are technically 10 games back of Detroit, who is in first place.

And they have a game and a half lead over the Philadelphia 76ers who we saw in

Cleveland here on Monday night or maybe more accurately.

We saw the Delaware Blue Coast playing the cabs on Monday night.

But do you look at this as far as seating goes as far as potential playoff

matchups go because I do think there's a lot unsettled here.

What do you look at and say, okay, this is a team that the magic should

try and aim for in the first round, not to say that they'd be favored over

anybody on the top because I don't think that they would be.

But is there one opponent that you look at and say, okay, that's who Orlando

should be aiming to match up with in that first round?

If if the plane didn't exist, I might play this game.

And and I might, you know, honestly, I might say New York and I know New York's

playing really well.

And this isn't like casting as versions on the nicks.

It's, it's their, they're a tough, tough team.

The magic had matched up really, really well with the nicks.

They split the season series this year.

They played them tough in Vegas without Franz Wagner.

Franz got hurt in the other loss that they had to the nicks.

They beat him the other two times without Palo, but they beat him the other

two times.

And so what I look at the standings, like to me, the nicks feel like the

team that has the most weaknesses to exploit.

They've been so up and down this year when they're good, they're really good.

When they're bad, they're, they're very beatable.

Um, yeah.

And and so that's if we want to play that game, that's kind of where I want to go.

Like the magic know the Cavs pretty well.

Um, you know, we played each other and play off series two years ago.

Very notably, Jared Allen was out for the majority of that series.

That's a big reason why I think the match could have forced it to seven games.

I don't like the idea of playing Cleveland without Franz.

Um, and generally just any team without Franz, just Franz gives the magic,

a huge matchup advantage that that few teams could handle.

Um, but because the plane exists, I just don't think you can play that game.

Um, because look, this race is very, very tight.

It's going to come down.

You like, you want to be where Cleveland's at and a little bit above the

fray and not worrying about those teams down below.

I think the magic are about three and a half, four and a half games back at Cleveland.

It's, it's, it's a little further away.

Yeah, they're four back at Cleveland and if the Cavs in all likelihood,

because I don't think Orlando's going to win both of the final games.

The Cavs will probably have the tiebreaker as well, especially since the magic

are not getting up to four.

I would be very, very surprised that have that set second game in Cleveland.

I believe is the second night of a back-to-back for Orlando as well,

where they're traveling from Orlando, which magic good on back-to-backs.

They're eight and two in the second night of back-to-backs this year.

But that, that one is that what I saw that on the schedule.

I'm like, why didn't NBC put this game on their, on their network?

If that's, if that's how they were in a schedule, it's, yeah.

So like this, that the playing race, the race five, six, seven, eight,

it's going to come down to the last game of the season.

Orlando has a two and a half game lead over, has a two and a half game lead over Atlanta in ninth.

It's going to come down to the last game of the season.

So I just don't think you can play this matchup game because, you know, back in 2024,

you know, you, you probably remember this with, with cast fans,

all the seedings were jumbled on that last day.

Like everybody needed to do something.

There was some seed manipulation to try and play the magic, actually,

when the magic, when it was clear, the magic were going to blow out the bucks.

The magic won that game against Milwaukee on the last day, got to fifth.

If they would have lost, they would have tumbled all the way down to eight.

And, and I have the feeling that that's how this season's going to be.

And, and like, the magic play at Boston on the last game of the season,

it's going to, you know, who knows what Boston's going to need to do on that day.

But it, it really feels like the magic are going to need to win on that last day

to secure fifth or sixth.

And if they lose, they'll be in the play internment in some capacity.

So, like, this is what the play internment was supposed to do.

It's supposed to kind of create this drama and create, you know, these intense battles

throughout the standings.

And it just doesn't feel like you could play the game of, oh, we want this team or that team.

It's just win as many games as you can get in the field.

And once you're in the field, like, as we can see all of the East Lasher, anything can happen.

As you mentioned, you know, maybe not the best matchup against the Caves in a postseason series.

What do you think that matchup would look like, though?

If the Caves and Magic did, like, say the Caves get up to third

because they're a half game back of the mix right now.

Or the magic get up to fifth and the Caves are in fourth.

Like, what do you think that series would look like?

I think it'd be very, very similar to the series that we had in 2024.

Like, I think the magic would try very hard to kind of drag the series into the mud

and make it this, make it a really, not necessarily slow down because the magic

are trying to play faster, but really try and make it a defensive series

and make it about who's going to defend and get stops.

And like, obviously, there's Donovan Mitchell, there's James Harden,

you're going to have to live with certain amount of tough shots that they make

and certain amount of things that they do.

And, you know, I assume Anthony Black will be back by then.

But, you know, the question is, do the magic have enough depth to handle

everything Cleveland can throw at you?

You know, between, you know, I love the James Harden move because,

hey, you know, Terry, Terry Scarlin's a good player,

but the injuries were just keeping them from realizing that potential,

putting too much on Donovan Mitchell.

You know, James Harden gives you sort of a, get out of jail free card.

Like, the moment of the game that I'm honestly scared of is,

is I know they've had Donovan Mitchell playing with the second unit,

like late first, early second quarters.

The magic spendch this year is not good.

It really struggles a score.

And especially when you don't have fronds,

you don't have that second scoring anchor anchor with you.

And so, you know, a lot's going to be put on Palo's plate.

And, you know, I know we talked about this,

I talked about this when we were previewing the Caves series two years ago.

It was really for the magic it was,

whoever Evan Mobley's not guarding between Franz Wagner and Palo Bay and Carol,

that's who you attack.

Well, when you don't have Franz Wagner,

Evan Mobley guards Palo Bay and Carol.

And Palo's had good moments against Mobley.

Like, it's, you know, he is able to beat that good defense,

but there's just no relief.

And so that would be my biggest concern is that, you know,

the magic don't necessarily have the depth

and don't really have the scoring depth to match up.

And so it's just you got to drag it into the bud

and make it a defensive battle

and kind of make it a slower game almost to try and counteract

that the firepower that Cleveland hits.

Yeah, I would be curious how that goes

just because I do think the one thing that kind of hurt the Caves previously

is that they were small at times,

certainly on the perimeter with various Garland and James Harden

is by no means a great defender,

but he's not a small guy either.

He's six foot five and a legit big dude.

So I do wonder how that changes this matchup in particular.

And I'm fascinated to see what it looks like on Wednesday night.

And then again, and just under two weeks

from the magic come to Cleveland on March 24th.

But if you want to learn more about the Orlando Magic

prior to this matchup in Orlando,

make sure you go check out Lockdown Magic with Philip Rossman Reich

does a great job covering that team.

Thanks so much for the time, man.

Absolutely always good, good to be here

and we'll see you in a couple of weeks

and probably a little bit after that.

Potentially we just might depending on how things shake out.

A big thanks to Philip Rossman Reich for stopping by,

Joy'd getting to talk about the Orlando Magic with him.

We will do this again in a couple of weeks and who knows?

Maybe we'll even do this heading into the postseason

because like I said earlier, the Cavs in the Magic

are two teams that I could see matching up

with each other in the first round of the playoffs.

So as we get out of here on this bonus edition of Lockdown Cavs,

please do me a favor.

Hit that thumbs up button and click that notification bell.

If you have not already on YouTube and wherever you're listening

to this podcast, please make sure you're subscribed.

It's the best way to help grow the show.

I'll be back after the Cavs take on the magic.

Talk more about the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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