CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers took care of business in their second preseason recreation as they dispatched the Orlando Magic 119-105 in what was general a much cleaner efficiency than their first outing on Thursday.
Mario Hezonja needed a recreation like this.
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His debut on Thursday was tough. He seemed out of place and a step or two gradual against a versatile, athletic Boston Celtics group. That wasn’t the case on Sunday, as he poured in 13 factors on 5-for-9 capturing with 5 rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Maybe Hezonja just needed to get his toes under him. Maybe it was enjoying against a much larger and more bodily group. Either manner, this was a much higher outing for Hezonja.
Head coach Kenny Atkinson called Hezonja a “diesel train” pregame, saying that he needs to see him get downhill in transition and attack the offensive boards. We saw him do both as he scored a few baskets in transition and had a good and-one after grabbing an offensive rebound in the first quarter.
Hezonja has the expertise to be an offensive connector, practical dribbler, flooring spacer, and impactful rebounder. Every group would like to have a backup 4 that could present all of those issues. Hezonja was that participant this recreation.
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The NBA recreation is much completely different than what Hezonja was used to in Europe. Atkinson said that he’s tried to incorporate issues from the worldwide recreation into what the Cavs do. Hezonja laughed it off when he requested if there were similarities between Cleveland’s offense and what he thrived on over in Europe.
“I wish in Europe that we play like this,” Hezonja said. “I wish. I wish, because this is smart. This is what it is. But also you don’t have this type of personnel in Europe. … The entire (NBA) game is based on reads nowadays.”
This is not the only adjustment Hezonja is making. He’s also getting used to becoming into a completely different position than what he’s been used to over the previous six years with fully new teammates.
“So you’re just adjusting to the system, coming off the bench, trying to see who are my teammates on the court, what they need, what type of game is it until I get in there,” Hezonja said. “So, just reading over there, it gets a little bit maybe for a couple seconds [it’s weird], but then the experience kicks in.”
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Getting used to the Cavs won’t occur in a single day. But primarily based on the expertise that he confirmed on Sunday, being affected person for him to get up to pace seems like it’ll be price it.
“It’s an adjustment,” Atkinson said. “We’ve got to have empathy for that. It’s not going to happen overnight.”
James Harden appears prepared for the common season after his preseason opener on Sunday. Harden was ready to get wherever he needed on the court, scored with ease, and created contact to generate free-throw makes an attempt. This resulted in 24 factors on 7-for-10 capturing with two assists in 26 minutes.
Atkinson needs to see how Evan Mobley suits alongside Harden. The Cavs have experimented with completely different lineup combos all through these two exhibition video games. One that may stick is the Harden and Mobley grouping.
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“James’s ball handling can help Evan, especially in the pocket,” Atkinson said. “Can we see that more? We’ll see if we can stick with it, but so far I’ve liked it.”
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Overall, Atkinson said that we should not look too deeply into the rotation, particularly in phrases of the backup level guards. That said, it’s price pointing out that Tyrese Proctor hasn’t gotten much of a probability to show anything in the preseason.
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Meleek Thomas is more of an unknown commodity. Getting him as much run as attainable with rotation gamers in a setting like this is important and worthwhile. However, those minutes have come utterly at the expense of Proctor, which is not a good signal for him.
We’ll see if this adjustments for the closing tune-up recreation on Tuesday, where Atkinson expects the starters to play more than they did here. As of now, it’s tough to envision Proctor getting rotation minutes at the begin of the season.
Cleveland did a much higher job rebounding after a poor displaying against Boston. The Celtics gathered 46.9% of their missed pictures (one centesimal percentile for an offense). On Sunday, the Magic only retrieved 28.6% of their offensive misses (thirty eighth percentile for an offense).
The Magic aren’t as good of an offensive rebounding group as the Celtics. That’s price pointing out. Yet, it is encouraging that the Cavs were ready to do a much higher job in this space.
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Rebounding is one of the factors Atkinson has regularly pointed out as wanting to improve this 12 months. This efficiency was a step in the proper direction.
Peyton Watson struggled to set up an offensive rhythm. He aired a three and general just did not appear as comfy offensively here as he did against Boston, as he went 3-for-10 from the flooring for just six factors.
“He got a little clunky there offensively, just him not knowing our principles and how we play,” Atkinson said. “We’ll clean that up. I’m not worried about that.”
Like Hezonja, this is an adjustment period for Watson as effectively.
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“Just a little bit more unpredictability,” Watson said when requested what the distinction was between this offense and the ones he was a half of with the Denver Nuggets.
The Cavs are giving Watson more obligations. They’re permitting him to create with the ball and entrusting him to be more than just a flooring spacer or cutter. This added freedom should permit him to grow into a higher all-around participant. But there could be bumps along the manner. This is in addition to figuring out what lineups he suits with best.
“It’s all about instincts and knowing how to play the game around two elite offensive players, just knowing where to be. Whereas with Joker (Nikola Jokic), I kind of knew every time down he was going to have the ball on the floor, on this spot or this spot, and the play or the cut was going to be for me to do this or do that.
“Here, there’s a lot more potentialities of issues that I can do/convey to the desk. I think that it’s an adjustment. I’m still getting acclimated, but I could not be happier to be in this state of affairs. I think it’ll actually benefit my recreation, and I think it’ll benefit the group as effectively.”
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