Young Cavaliers drop opener to Magic 94-85
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
(ORLANDO, FL) - A couple things we know the Cleveland Cavaliers are a young team, very young. Also they have a first year head coach in John Beilein. Those two things combined will make it difficult on the Cavs at time during the 2019-20 season. That was the case on Wednesday night as the opened the season at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida against the Magic and suffered their first loss of the season falling 94-85.
The game was relatively close in the first quarter as they trailed 28-24 when the first 12 minutes expired. Cavs number 1 pick Darius Garland started at point guard as Colin Sexton in his second season moved over into the shooting guard role.
In the second quarter the game got away from the Cavs as the Magic outscored Cleveland 27-17 to take a 55-41 lead into the half time break. Sexton the Cavs in scoring with seven points. Kevin Love had Six points and seven rebounds in the first half to lead the Cleveland on the boards.
The Cavs showed fight to start the second half as they cut the Magics 14-point half time lead to four points with a 14-4 run. The Cavs outscored the Magic 24-16 in the quarter to close the gap to 71-65 at the end of the period.
Unfortunately, the youth showed as the Cavs could not close the gap further and fell behind more in final period as the veteran Magic team closed the deal outscoring the Cavs in the final quarter 23-20 to seal the win.
Sexton and Tristan Thompson led Cleveland in scoring with 16 points apiece. Cedi Osman had 13 and Kevin Love finished with 11 points and 18 rebounds. Garland’s debut was not anything to write home about, but it was not terrible as he scored eight points and five assists and two rebounds. Kevin Porter, Jr.’s night on the other hand was not so good as he went 0 for 6 from the field, with one rebound and two assists.
The Cavs will try to earn their first win of the season on Saturday night with the home opener when they take on the Indiana Pacers at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse at 8:00 p.m.
POSTED 10/23/2019 22:42
Lake County Sentinel
