Photo: Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP

The Cavaliers have been foreign to the term "losing streak" during the last two seasons, but they're starting to get a grasp on the concept again. With their third straight loss, the Cavaliers have done something that they had not done in the last two years, lose more than two straight games. Against a lethal Magic squad, Dwight Howard started the scoring early, and the Magic hit everything in the fourth led by Jameer Nelson and Vince Carter. Rashard Lewis stuck the dagger in, and the Cavaliers couldn't pick up enough stops, dropping their first game to Orlando this season with Shaquille O'Neal in the fold.

FINALLY!: It didn't take too long for the Cavaliers to finally get Antawn Jamison to make a shot in wine and gold, or blue and orange. Jamison cut to the middle of the floor and caught a pass that resulted in a jump hook swish in the first quarter. It was apparent that after he got that first bucket out of the way, his nerves settled and he was able to worry much more about the task at hand. It appears that Jamison is a fast learner, and his adjustment time frame may not be as long as you would think after that first performance.

Shaq exits, Howard excels: Clearly, Dwight Howard demanded to be the key element of the game plan today. Not only did he play the first fifteen minutes of the game, but he worked on a wide array of shots mixed in with his strong post moves. Shaq drew foul number two at the 10:20 mark of the second quarter on a loose ball foul at the offensive end. In between that, Shaq took his customary rest to close out the first quarter, and the Cavaliers went to their new backup center, Anderson Varejao. Andy has not played much backup center against the biggest and baddest of the league, being used instead in favorable matchups against smaller teams at the 5 spot. With Z gone, Andy had the task of maintaining "Superman" without Superman being out there (I couldn't resist). Howard scored three quick buckets on Andy, and the Cavaliers were trying to double team to help Andy, often arriving late. I just don't see the Cavaliers being able to go one on one with Howard with anyone other than Shaq. That's when the trouble arose.

Howard exits, Shaq excels: Shaq played very well in this game, and with very few exceptions, he did exactly what the Cavaliers need him to do to win games against the Magic. The two things I look at were 2 of his 5 fouls not used on Howard, a silly over-the-back and a hard foul on J.J. Redick. He should really use ALL his fouls on Howard, not just most of them. I think double teaming with Shaq in there is just careless and a terrible strategy against the lethally dangerous Magic from deep. Shaq's offensive game was excellent, and he did a lot of work with Howard out of the game mid-second quarter. Shaq scored 3 buckets on Marcin Gortat, and The Diesel actually hit his first eight shots from the field. O'Neal played 31 minutes and scored 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting, adding 5 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 blocks, avoiding fouling out as well.

Not knowing his role: Anderson Varejao was downright in disarray in the first half. Not only was he getting understandably owned by Dwight Howard 1-on-1, but he was playing right into the Magic's hands on the offensive end. Andy took 3 or 4 15-foot jumpers in the first half, making just 1 of them, and the Magic will give him that all day long, any day of the week, any week of the year, any year of the millennium. I think I've made my point. There are games when that is a decent look for Andy, but not in a game like this against a much-improve Orlando defense. Varejao is in a tough spot here shifting from minutes mostly at power forward to primarily playing center, but he is capable and if he stays within himself, he can adjust to the backup center role.

Settling in, it's Antawn Jamison!: Give Mike Brown credit for making one great in-game adjustment, starting Antawn Jamison to start the second half. Jamison came out like a new man in the half as the Cavs looked like they scripted the first several plays for him. Jamison quickly poured in the first eight points of the half as the wine and gold surged to an 11-0 run to take a five point lead. Jamison got a couple of those goaltend calls that went against him in Charlotte, and they still missed one earlier in the game. Antawn also showed a great ability to post up Rashard Lewis and create his own shot. The only thing that held him back was foul trouble (more on that in a second), but 'Tawn finished with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting, 8 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block in 31 minutes. I think it's safe to say Mike Brown is going to have to scramble for excuses to keep J.J. Hickson in the starting lineup. J.J. played just 13 minutes scoring 4 points and grabbing 2 boards.

Questionable calls galore: I can't even squeeze all of the calls I would like to into here. Every single time these two teams square off, it is so important how the officials call the game. They had a group that called everything last time, and this time they had a group that allowed Dwight Howard to play incredibly physical with few repercussions. It wasn't all involved with Howard, though. For instance, the Cavalier had a fraction of a second on the shot clock when the ball was inbounded to James. A shot clock violation occurred, but the buzzer sounded before James even touched the ball. There were several instances, where Howard power-blocked someone, flatout ran into James, or was shoving Shaq in the paint. He somehow picked up only 4 fouls and was never put in serious foul trouble like Shaq, Jamison, and Parker all were today. The worst call that Howard got in his favor came with 8:46 remaining. Antawn Jamison was camped out in front of the charge circle, Dwight put his shoulder into Jamison's chest, and Jamison was crushed to the ground. Somehow, the apparently blind official thought Jamison was in the charge circle because there is absolutely no other logical explanation. It was Jamison's 5th foul instead of Howard's 4th, and it changed the complexity of the game, forcing Jamison out of the game for several minutes when he was the Cavs' most productive player in the 2nd half. In other words, most of the refs in the league refuse to call fouls on Dwight when he commits them, and they insist on calling every single one on Shaq, even ones where he doesn't commit the foul or should be given some leeway. I can't even begin to tell you how much it infuriates me that Stan Van Gundy has the nerve to complain about calls when LeBron isn't getting them in the paint and Howard's getting everything.

Doubles start outside surge: The Cavaliers made a questionable strategical change in the fourth that I really question. They double teamed Howard with Shaq on the floor, which sort of defeats the purpose of using Shaq on Dwight. Yes, you double team with Andy or JJ or anyone else guarding him, but Shaq has shown that he can hold his own against Howard. Unless he is in crippling foul trouble, and it's still not a given, you don't need to double with Shaq out there. What the doubling did was open the Orlando offense even more. They made the extra pass, getting several open looks, and J.J. Redick burned them with a couple of big buckets. Then, real trouble hit.

Carter and Nelson pick-and-roll Cavs onto ropes: The Magic went to their bread-and-butter clutch play, pick and roll basketball with two players that are not Dwight Howard. This time, it was Jameer Nelson and Vince Carter. Carter had done virtually nothing in the first three quarters, but he made up for that in the final stanza. Vinsanity scored 8 of his 11 points in the fourth. In fact, Nelson and Carter scored all 16 points (8 each) in a four minute stretch of the fourth quarter from 6:00 to 2:00 left. They outscored the Cavaliers 16-3 in that stretch, turning a five point deficit to an eight point Magic lead. Throw in Rashard Lewis's corner three with 20 seconds to go, and you have the dagger that put the Magic up 7 after a poorly chosen shot, a three by LeBron with 41 seconds left. The Cavalier offense was downright irrelevant without Jamison as Mo Williams was just 1-of-9 shooting on the day and LeBron scored just 3 fourth quarter points.

goes to: Antawn Jamison. There's no doubt about this since the Cavaliers were +10 with 'Tawn on the court, one of just two Cavaliers with a positive +/- (Gibson was +5). Jamison used a third quarter surge to establish himself in the game. He shot 7-of-9 in the second half and scored 15 of his 19 in the second half as well. Antawn posted 19 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block, and he showed how dangerous the Cavalier lineup can be with him out there.

Team Grade: C

This was an incredibly tough game, and I had an incredibly strong feeling that they were going to drop this one today in big fashion. To their credit, the Cavs battled the entire game and simply went ice cold in the stretch run, lacked aggressiveness, and could  not get enough stops off the Magic pick and roll. The Cavs shot 46%, but they hit just 3-of-19 three pointers. They also had just 15 assists compared to 14 turnovers, and while they did dominate on the boards 43-34, they let the Magic shoot 51% and the Cav backcourt was just 5-of-26 from the floor for 17 points (five different players).

The Cavaliers look to end their losing skid with a home game against the playoff-contending New Orleans Hornets. Leon Powe is expected to be medically cleared and appear in his first game as a Cavalier.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

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