NBA China Games: Orlando Magic - Cleveland Cavaliers

The highly anticipated game between the Cavaliers and the Magic in Shanghai was due to start at 8pm in Qizhong Arena. I didn't have a ticket to the game, but this was China in the end so I thought the black market was as or even more reliable than any ticketing agency that I would have gone to. As expected, scalpers were in the hundreds (I kid you not), and after being ambushed by a large group of them 100 meters from the arena, I finally decided to buy a ticket. The 1000rmb ticket (130$) I was able to haggle down to 500rmb (65$) in a matter of seconds and even was even able to bring the scalper all the way to the entrance to check if the ticket was a fake. After avoiding the hectic promotional campaigns by the big multinational companies set up all around the stadium, I went ahead and found the way to my seat. It ended up being surprisingly above court level as a result of what I can only imagine to be bad stadium architecture (and of course bad ticket). As I sat down and looked around me, I saw a wide array of jerseys being worn by the young crowd ranging from USA national team ones to Cleveland throwback ones, to even a Ray Allen Boston jersey. I suspected them to be fakes as a real throwback costs more than what an average Chinese makes in a month, but regardless the young Chinese basketball fans came 'adequately' dressed. Anyways after a brief message from Dwight and Lebron to the fans, the game was ready to get underway. Didn't bring a pen/paper, so these are straight from memory.



FIRST HALF

-Damon Jones got the most love in the player introductions, after of course King James.

-Just before tipoff, Lebron and Damon had an interesting handshake sequence that ended up with them bowing to each other.

-Starting Lineups: Cavs- Damon Jones, Larry Hughes, LeBron James, Drew Gooden. Orlando- Jameer Nelson, JJ Redick, Keith Bogans, Hedo Turkoglu, Dwight Howard.

-First 5 possessions or so saw the Cavs go down low to Big Z. I'm pretty sure that's not what the Chinese spent their life savings to see.

-Orlando tried to go down low to Howard early on as well, but Z managed to block, smother, or bother most of his attempts in the first half.

-There was a lot of driving and dishing to the outside on Orlando's part, which is quite logical with a squad packed with shooters.

-Is it just me or does Keith Bogans move, play AND look awfully like Ray Allen.

-First timeout sees the Orlando 'dance team' come out, and immediately receives the highest crowd noise I've heard all night.

-JJ Redick's hesitating a lot on the threes. He needs to put that on automatic if he wants a shot at being good.

-Damon Jones keeps sticking his shoulder into Jameer Nelson to create space as he tries to run the offense - ala Gary Payton.

-Midway through the first quarter and Lebron gets his first proper touch on offense. The crowd starts cheering intensely, but Lebron disappoints with just a pass.

-In fact, in the first half LeBron was highly anti-climatic with barely any shot attempts and a mere couple of points stemming from dubious calls. I guess LeBron felt the pressure after numerous stories proclaiming what an icon he is in China.

-Second Timeout and again it's the Orlando dance team providing the entertainment again. I discuss with a friend whether the Magic actually brought their full dance team. Moments later, I witness each and everyone of them jumping on the trampoline and landing crazy dunks. The crowd is impressed, and so am I.

-First Quarter ends 23-20 in the Cavaliers' favor.

-Hedo Turkoglu has guarded everyone from Hughes, to Lebron, to Drew Gooden…I guess he's more versatile than he seems.

-Shannon Brown checks in and wastes no time lighting it up. After consecutive tough step-back fadeaway jumpers he holds his follow through and has the 'who's the man!' face on. Too bad it's a preseason game in Shanghai and not the NBA finals huh.

-Some fat Orlando center performs what would have to be called a skyhook. I find out soon later its none other than Adonal Foyle.

-Jameer Nelson is particularly good at going straight through double teams, he's done it about 8 times already. Perhaps Damon Jones and Ira Newble aren't the best defenders..that might be it

-Damon Jones checks out to be replaced by another notorious PG; Devin Brown. I'd say he's 50 pounds overweight..and that's just to be a small forward..

-First half ends 46-42 in favour of the Cavs. Truth be told they've kept the Magic at arm's length the whole half and look in total control.



SECOND HALF

-Same starting lineups begin the second half .

-LeBron wastes no time making up for his horrible performance in the first half. In a span of a minute he catches an alley hoop and throws it down..finally giving the crowd something basketball related to scream about, soon followed by a spin move in traffic with a finesse double clutch layup with the left hand. And One. Crowd is going nuts like one of those Bruce Lee scenes where he screams for no apparent reason.

-Speaking of Bruce Lee, we see his successor Jet Li on the large screen. He receives a standing ovation to my surprise. His two little kids with him have those SARS masks on their face. I guess they didn't hear Drew Gooden's neckhair virus had been exterminated.

-Jameer Nelson's got game. Well you gotta have some game to relegate Arroyo to the bench, but this kid could get some All-Star consideration in the near future.

-Dwight Howard, having been locked down by Z most of the night and been forced to settle for 15 footers, finally decides its time to step up. His athleticism ends up being too much for Z and the Cavalier reserve big man to handle. He ends up with game highs of 31 points and 14 rebounds.

-The Cleveland reserve big men that I mentioned above is what I now find out to be A.Tulliver. He has no nba.com player profile page so I can't really shed anymore light on him. But I think its safe to say that Cleveland must re-sign Anderson Varejao.

-Orlando is struggling to create any offense without Grant Hill. I hate to say this but Rashard Lewis is exactly the player they needed and actually probably deserved that max contract.

-Global Brands are all over this game, making sure the Chinese know their brand through timeout entertainment in the form of mini basketball games. What I remember from it is having to watch 10 successive airballs from beyond the arc in an Adidas sponsored hotspots contest.

-LeBron checks out towards the end of the 3rd with 17points. We won't see anymore of him tonight.

-End of 3rd: Cleveland 72-64 Orlando

-I don't want to bring up timeout entertainment again, but it really has been the most enjoyable part for the Chinese audience in attendance. In fact the loudest cheers of the night comes when free t-shirts are catapulted out towards the crowd. You wouldn't think T-shirts made by the Chinese themselves wouldn't get these people so excited..but I guess everyone loves free stuff.

-Beginning of the fourth it seems like Cleveland is going to run away with this one.

-The Orlando dance team is high up in the stands now giving out fliers with a picture of the whole team on it. Why these ladies want a billion Chinese men with half naked photos of them, is beyond me. However it sure is working. Everyone is going to take pictures with these cheerleaders and even autographs. I'm actually worried for their safety as they are just by themselves. The cheerleader that I see on my row is none other than the same cheerleader I voted to get in the All-Star cheerleader squad 8 months ago. (Well I don't get the privilege of voting for MVP, so I get my voting fix where I can!) I'm tempted to go up to her and tell her this sad fact, but I decide I rather not look even more pathetic than the swarm of Chinese guys around her.

-Meanwhile, most of the crowd (including me) has missed Orlando's comeback.

-Cleveland is playing exclusively with their bench while Orlando's playing at full strength (minus Rashard Lewis).

-Lots of lead changes towards the end but baskets down the stretch by Nelson and Turkoglu give the Magic a 4 point lead with less than a minute to go. LeBron aka the Little Emperor stays on the bench seemingly content on biting his nails.

-About half of the 13,000 or so in attendance has already left hoping to avoid the mass crowd of people waiting for the bus and the crazy traffic that will ensue.

-Last second attempts by Marshall, Newble, Tolliver, Devin and Shannon Brown are futile as expected.

-Final Score: Orlando 90 – 86 Cleveland. Mike Brown had a chance to give the crowd their money's worth and practice some crucial end game plays – but instead he decided go for players who will never see the light of crunch time again in the foreseeable future.

-These teams meet again in Macao (Las Vegas of China) in a couple of days, and I personally would rather spend my money on the Blackjack table than watch two mediocre Eastern Conference teams' benches go at it.
-Orlando barely managed to beat the Cleveland bench and truth be told I don't see them making the playoffs this year unless Rashard Lewis plays like an MVP. Cleveland on the other hand are really weak at the Point and Center positions even with Gibson and Varejao back. LeBron will need some sustained heroics to get past the first round this time around.