Orlando Magic - Scoring Is A Major Concern

“If Orlando is one thing, it is persistent. And the team has fully embraced a defensive identity that will get after players and defend them physically on the perimeter” (Rossman-Reich). This is what Phillip Rossman Reich had, author for the Orlando Magic Daily, had to say about the team following game 1. That’s not all though. He also says, “But as the Magic tried to close that gap stop after stop. They just could not find the shots. It could have been a missed three in the corner from Gary Harris. It could have been Paolo Banchero driving through the lane expecting a call that was not going to come” (Rossman-Reich). The Magic shot a horrendous 32.6% from the field, and an arguably even worse 8/37 (21.6%) from 3-point land. This was a major reason they were held to just 83 points the entire game. On the positive side, their defense looked elite.

Cleveland Cavaliers - The Defense is Elite

Holding a team in the Modern NBA to under 90 points is rare. Under 85 is even rarer. The Cavs held the Magic to just 83 points. They out rebounded the Magic 54-40. They allowed 16 assists total. Like I mentioned previously, the Magic shot horribly from the field and from 3 the entire game. This Cavs team is genuinely completely different than last year’s team that got destroyed by the Knicks. Bickerstaff had them preparing to get physical all week against the Magic, and that’s what they did, and they dominated.

Philadelphia 76ers - More Help is Needed

Maxey and Embiid combined for 62 points. The rest of the team had just 42 points. Total. The bench combined for just 7 points. We saw some great defense for Batum and Oubre (for the most part). But offensively, Maxey and Embiid can’t this heavily carry the load. If they can’t figure that out soon, the Process may be over sooner than we thought.

New York Knicks - The Bench is Elite

Despite Brunson’s struggles, the Knicks still got the big game 1 win, and that was in large thanks to their bench play. The Knicks bench alone had 42 points, which is more 6 times as many as the Sixers bench had. Also, if you hadn’t guessed it by now, teams that win are going to get most of the positive feedback and the teams that lost are gonna get the more negative feedback.