Cavs: Short-handed effort and 2 other observations from loss to Magic

The Cavs dropped Monday’s game to the Magic 103-83 in an outing that saw Cleveland lose even more players from the starting lineup.

The Cavs continue to be short-handed as the young season rolls on, falling to the Magic 103-83 on Monday night. Down Kevin Love and Isaac Okoro, the Cavs were dealt another blow on Monday as starting guard Dante Exum left the game just a minute after tipoff. Exum was starting in place for Okoro, who’s been out due to an ankle sprain, while also being in the COVID-19 health and safety protocol.

Exum had been playing good defense for the Cavs since entering the starting lineup, and his loss will surely be hard to replace, as the team has very few other options. Cedi Osman is scoring at a nice clip, but he’s been far more effective as the sixth-man off the bench, and taking him out of that spot would weaken the second unit to the point of complete and total inefficiency.

Darius Garland also was out of the game, due to a shoulder injury, resulting in Damyean Dotson starting for the night. Dotson and Collin Sexton had 16 and 24 points respectively but neither man really moved the ball that much.

Cedi Osman was the star of the game, dropping 18 points, seven assists, and seven rebounds off the bench. If Andre Drummond had a better day shooting (5-of-15) and team defense was more effective, who knows?

Here’s what we learned from this game.

Cedi Osman is for real

The biggest complaint about Cedi Osman is that his shooting can sometimes be off for a night, but his versatility and dynamic abilities are not in question anymore. Given adequate play-time, Osman can be a jack of all trades type of player. He’s clearly able to handle more than one responsibility and that type of unique skill set can be invaluable.

This team has no depth

Be it at guard or with the bigs, the Cavs have no real depth to overcome injuries. With three of four of their best players down, the Cavs relied on a lot of guys that maybe they shouldn’t have had to rely on. If the Cavs keep suffering injuries, the team may need to think about getting some better players on the bottom of this roster, one way or another.

The team couldn’t handle the Magic’s two big players

Seeing Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic torch Cleveland, especially from three-point land really highlighted just how lacking the team was incompetent bigs tonight. Gordon and Vucevic looked like All-NBA caliber players tonight, especially Gordon who cleared the offensive glass with relative ease as he and fellow Magic player Kharim Birch had six offensive rebounds apiece. That was the game-high for either time.