If you want to talk about the first round matchup in the Eastern Conference in this year's playoffs, everyone may say that there is no suspense in the matchup between the Celtics and the Heat. Indeed, the difference in strength between these two teams is too great, and without Butler this year, Green Kai will naturally crush him. However, there is another set of matchups that we need to pay attention to, and that is the Cavaliers vs. Magic, which is also not too suspenseful. Some people may say that the regular season records of the two teams, one is 48-34 and the other is 47-35, and the records are still relatively close, so why is there no suspense? In fact, everyone knows that the Magic are not only young teams, but they are playing the playoffs for the first time. If you look at the wins they got in the regular season, they just won the games they deserved.
As the so-called playoffs are real, the Magic and the Cavaliers have also played two games, which can be said to be two very ugly games in a row. You can take a look at G1, the magic is quite awkward, and it has become a knight's toy. After arriving at G2, the Magic also did not adjust, and it was still the same old look. We can look at a few sets of data. The first set of data, a single game scored, the first game only scored 83 points, the Cavaliers scored 97 points, a big win of 14 points. In the second game, the Magic scored 86 points and the Cavaliers scored 96 points, winning by 10 points. If a playoff team can't even score 90 points in a single game, how can they be expected to win?
The second set of data is the player's score. It seems that in these two games of the Magic, there are many players who score double-doubles, but there is no real offensive core arrow. The Magic say that the good thing is to bloom more, which is essentially piecemeal, which is a big taboo in the playoffs. On the other hand, on the Cavaliers' side, Mitchell scored 30 points in G1 and 23 points in G2, scoring and delivering assists steadily. In fact, this is the gap, the logic of the game after the two teams enter the playoffs. The third set of data, the shooting is really poor. In the first game, the Magic made 28 of 86 shots, a 32.6 percent shooting percentage. In the second game, he made 28 of 79 shots, a 35.4 percent shooting percentage. It's not that the Cavaliers' defense is top-notch, it's because the Magic can't shoot on their own.
The problem on the Magic's side is serious, and if you don't shoot in the playoffs, it means you've cut off your arm. Shooting is not an overnight thing, with the current state of the Magic, even after returning to the home court, there will not be much improvement, and the Cavaliers have also seized the Magic's life. Judging from the situation shown in the first two games, the overall situation of this round of the series is basically decided, and the suspense is not too big. The Magic's playoff season was terrible, and it also exposed its shortcomings. They need three-point shooters, consistent shooters. Magic G1 3-point shot 8 of 37, G2 three-point shot 9 of 35, three-point shooting rate of less than 30%, is a typical vegetable and love shot. That's the Magic's shortcoming, and they have to make a change in the offseason, and then it's time to sign those three-point shooters in free agency. The Magic were interested in Thompson before, and now the playoffs have once again proved that the Magic can't do without three points, which also conversely increases Thompson's value.
Teams like the Magic, they're more deformed in their own right, and making the playoffs is just a formality. Of course, their big frame has been perfected, they need to be tinkered with in the offseason, and they have to bring in shooters in the free agency market to make up for their shortcomings so that they can be more aggressive in the future.