The Cleveland Cavaliers are fortunate that a performance like this doesn’t count in the record book. This was a bad showing in a game the regulars played a full three quarters.
The Cavs were terrible defensively. They were consistently beaten on dribble drives and backdoor cuts. And when they stepped up to stop offensive players driving to the hoop, they left themselves vulnerable to three-point looks. You couple that with poor offensive execution, and you get a runaway 132-116 loss to the Orlando Magic in your final preseason outing.
Cleveland’s regulars were led in scoring by Donovan Mitchell, who put up 14 points on 7-of-15 shooting with eight helpers. Aside from Mitchell, few of the rotation players could establish much of an offensive flow.
James Harden scored 13 points, but he went an inefficient 3-of-12 from the field to get those. Evan Mobley struggled to get into a rhythm, going 6-for-14 from the field for 14 points and five rebounds.
The Magic had strong outings from all of their starters. Paolo Banchero led the way with 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting with eight rebounds. Franz Wagner added 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go along with eight assists.
There weren’t many positives to take away from this game for the Cavs, but the play of Meleek Thomas was one of them. He received just five minutes of run in the first three quarters with the regulars, but more than made up for lost time in the fourth quarter. He put up 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting in the final frame alone. Overall, he led the Cavs with 16 points.
How much you want to take away from garbage time in a preseason game is up to you. What we can confidently say at this point is that Thomas has been comfortable scoring in nearly every environment you put him in when he can be the primary ball handler.
This was a poor showing from the Cavs, but not one that likely means much in the grand scheme of things.
The Cavs don’t take the court again until Thursday, October 22, when they open up their season on the road against LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers.