Jim Ingraham: Welcome to the playoffs, Cavs, we've been waiting for you to finally show up

CLEVELAND — This was the game Cavs fans waited forever to see, but never did during last year's embarrassing playoff series loss to the Knicks. Saturday afternoon at the Rock, the Cavs finally played it. Granted, the young and exuberant Orlando Magic are a far cry from the bruising Knicks when it comes to street-fighting playoff basketball. But the kids from Disney World, much like last year's Cavs, don't know what they don't know. So in Saturday's Game 1 matinee, the Cavs, in a role reversal from last year, went from pupil to teacher against the new kids on the playoff block, galloping wire-to-wire with the lead in a 97-83 victory. That's right, at no time during the game did Orlando have the lead. The Cavs' game-winning 97 points matches their point total from Game 1 of last year's series against the Knicks. The difference is in that game the Knicks scored 101 points. The NBA and its TV partners clearly deemed the Cavs-Magic series optional viewing for the country's basketball fans, per the game's 1 p.m. start. The young, yet longish Magic — their roster includes six players who stand 6-foot-10 or 6-11 — are a feisty bunch, a description nobody attached to the Cavs in their brief playoff cameo a year ago. "It's going to come down to physicality," Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said prior to the game but speaking of this series. Clearly the memory of the mauling his team endured at the hands of the wildly physical Knicks in New York's five-game mauling of the Cavs a year ago still lingers. The problem last year was the Knicks were the thrashers and the Cavs the thrashes. Obviously, that's still an open wound to Bickerstaff. There are multiple subplots as the Cavs begin this playoff series with the Magic. A major one is the Cavs' physicality, which was missing from last year's brief playoff sojourn. The point man for that mission this year was the point man last year: Jarrett Allen, who a year ago served as the rag doll the Knicks dragged up and down the floor, exposing the Cavs' center for the lack of physicality that most big men bring to the floor, especially during the playoffs. Allen's production last year, in the last three games of the playoff series with the Knicks, all Cavs losses: four rebounds in 40 minutes, five rebounds in 36 minutes and four rebounds in 35 minutes. Jarrett Allen's day at the office Saturday against Orlando: 16 points, 18 rebounds. "We did what we needed to do. We stood our ground," said Bickerstaff. "Toughness. That's what this is about. The maturation of this team. You understand how to play forcefully." That was a missing ingredient last year against the Knicks, but it was the chief ingredient in the Cavs' win Saturday against the Magic. Cleveland outrebounded Orlando 54-40, and it was Allen who did most of the procuring. "There's an intensity in the playoffs, possession by possession," Bickerstaff said. "Every possession matters." At one point in the game the Cavs missed 18 consecutive 3-point shots. For the game overall they had eight 3-point field goals, and they missed 22. That's a shooting percentage of 26.7 percent, which is a good way to shoot your way out of the playoffs. For the Cavs, there are agendas all over the court in this series. None bigger than the future of the coach himself. Being bounced out of the playoffs in the first round two years in a row with the home-court advantage may not be the best way for a coach to lose his job, but it'll do until something worse comes along. The bigger subplot is the one surrounding Donovan Mitchell. Will he sign a max contract and commit to the Cavs for years to come or does he potentially have one foot out the door, pending the result of these playoffs? Mitchell was sensational Saturday, doing all the Mitchell things Mitchell can do when Mitchell needs to do them: 30 points, three steals, three assists and two rebounds. "You enjoy it, but it's one game," he said. The Cavs still must win three more games to win the series, and all that does is guarantee them a spot opposite the best team in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics, assuming Boston beats Miami in their series. Saturday's game is only the first of the four the Cavs must win to not only advance in the tournament, but to ease the angst of many lingering issues, including the futures of Mitchell, Bickerstaff and who knows how many others who might be scapegoat material should Cleveland get eliminated by Mickey Mouse's favorite team. "J.B. challenged us to go get every board, and we did what we were supposed to do," said chairman of the boards Allen. Now, after a day off, the Cavs must do it again. And then again. And then again. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com and follow him @Jim_Ingraham on X.