Warning: Reader's discretion is advised, as some of the 'after the season' notes discuss serious, graphic situations.
The Cleveland Cavaliers begin their 24th NBA Playoffs appearance with Game 1 versus the Orlando Magic. The Magic are making their 17th playoff appearance. The teams split the 2023-2024 season series, 2-2. Coincidentally, the two franchises have near identical regular season winning percentages in their histories (.467 for Cleveland; .469 for Orlando).
Believe it or not, this year is already the 15th anniversary of the only playoffs meeting the two teams have had until this year. That season was a memorable run for both teams, with the 59-23 Magic upsetting the 66-16 Cavs, 4-2, in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals. Let's take some time to reflect on that past Cavs squad.
The 2008-2009 Cavaliers entered the season having taken the eventual 2008 NBA Champions, the Boston Celtics, to the final seconds of Game 7 of their second round matchup. The Celtics had been heavily favored all season after assembling their Big 3 of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett. Yet, the Cavs made bold trades at the trade deadline to revamp their core, with Delonte West, Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, and Joe Smith joining LeBron James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao, Daniel "Booby" Gibson, and the rest of the team. Sadly, Gibson, who had become a key clutch player in the 2007 Playoffs en route to the 2007 NBA Finals, missed Games 6 and 7 versus Boston due to suffering a separated shoulder. While the Game 7 duel between James and Pierce is most remembered from this series, let's not forget James's dunk "with no regard for human life" in Game 4. (I am proud to say that I was at the game with family and friends to witness this moment.)
The Cavs had spent years trying to find their best backcourt matches for James. Ricky Davis's spot in 2003 eventually went to Ira Newble in 2004, and then to Larry Hughes in 2005. Jeff McInnis arrived in early 2004, only to be supplanted by Eric Snow a year later, with West and Gibson emerging as younger talented players. Sasha Pavlovic was one of many swingmen who auditioned for a role alongside James, but his stock dropped after a contract holdout to start the 2007-2008 season, when he eventually lost his spot to Szczerbiak.
Enter Mo Williams. Damon Jones had been a streaky sharpshooter off the bench who showed decent chemistry with the Cavs roster prior to the midseason trades in early 2008. Seeing an opportunity to pick up a rising star point guard, GM Danny Ferry traded Jones and Smith to the Bucks for Williams. Meanwhile, in a vastly underrated move to balance the lineup, soon-to-be Coach of the Year Mike Brown moved West from starting point guard to starting shooting guard. In college, West had played shooting guard alongside star point guard Jameer Nelson, who was now starting at point guard for the Magic. (Nelson would suffer a torn labrum in his shoulder, which would keep him out for four months until the NBA Finals as he missed the 2009 ECF.)
Ferry made some additional wise moves in rounding out the bench, bringing in rookie big men J.J. Hickson and Darnell Jackson, young swingman Tarence Kinsey, and veteran big man Lorenzen Wright. Later in the season, Ferry would re-acquire Smith and also add former local high school standout Jawad Williams to the roster.
This was a fun Cavs team. They enjoyed their time together and they entertained the masses. Finally, LeBron had his guy at point guard, as M. Williams would earn his only All-Star selection of his career. The unique lineup with M. Williams and West taking ball-handling pressure off of James led to a top 3 offense and a top 4 defense that season. James would win his first NBA Most Valuable Player award while also being named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team for the first time, the All-NBA First Team for the third time, and the All-Star Team for the fifth time. (For anyone counting, James has started 20 consecutive NBA All-Star Games as of 2024.) The Cavs were admittedly more of a perimeter team, with James getting some minutes at power forward at times (which initially started with his gold medal winning performance with the 2008 U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball "Redeem Team" led by Coach Mike Krzyzewski from Duke). Heading into the Magic series, Charles Barkley warned the viewers about the Cavs' perimeter tendencies as he picked Orlando's upset over Cleveland. This was despite the Nike MVPuppet campaign that had basically previewed a LeBron versus Kobe NBA Finals matchup.
Prior to the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavs capped off their fun, 'team of the people' season with their amazing spoof of a Heineken beer commercial (again, I am thankful to have been in the crowd when they shared this masterpiece).
Game 1 of the ECF set the tone for the series. It was the first of two home games where the Cavs blew massive double-digit leads. The Cavs could not sustain the fast tempo (the Magic were 12th in pace and the number 1 defense during the season; the Cavs were 25th in pace). A visibly exhausted James ended up guarding point guard Rafer Alston down the stretch in Game 1. Better known as "Skip 2 My Lou" from his And 1 Mixtape Tour streetball days, Alston would play some of his best NBA ball in this series. Moreover, Dwight Howard dominated the middle, playing like an MVP candidate and closing out the series with 40 points in Game 6. Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, and Mickael Pietrus would also have some of the best performances of their careers.
A high point for the Cavs was the finish to Game 2, which my older brother and I got to see in person. Who can forget this LeBron James game winner, which temporarily restored hope to the team and the fans!
James and opponent JJ Redick recently discussed this play on their podcast. (Viewer's discretion is advised there as well, as there is some profanity used during the conversation.) To Redick's credit, he humbly accepted being benched in the 2009 ECF due to matchup issues as rookie Courtney Lee played a solid series as Redick's replacement at starting shooting guard.
Lost in the shuffle was future Cavs Coach Tyronn Lue, who closed out his respectable playing career with only one playoff game played that year against Boston. He did not appear in any of the games against Cleveland.
Foreshadowing offseason moves to come, Lewis hit a clutch three-pointer that brought the Magic back from behind and eventually led to their overtime Game 4 win and a 3-1 lead. What happened on that play? Wallace got screened by Howard, who was also distracting Varejao. This left Lewis open enough to get a clean shot and make.
Averaging over 41 points a game for the first five games of the series was not enough for James to carry the Cavs back to the NBA Finals. There would be no LeBron versus Kobe Finals that year or ever. The main Cavalier memories of that Game 6 loss were of West carrying the team on his back down the stretch to keep the game somewhat close.
The aftermath after this series was substantial. There is a lot that people do not remember right away, but many notable things happened. (Again, reader's discretion is advised.)
In addition to never getting a LeBron versus Kobe Finals, we also never got a LeBron versus Carmelo Finals as the Lakers beat the Nuggets, 4-2, to win the Western Conference. That year was the only time Anthony’s Nuggets made it out of the first round.
The Lakers beat the Magic, 4-1, to win the NBA Championship. Coach Stan Van Gundy would take a gamble by playing Nelson, who had just returned from injury, 18 minutes per game.
Ferry wasted no time in making the 'Shaquisition', acquiring Shaquille O'Neal from the Phoenix Suns for Wallace and Pavlovic. Wallace was no longer seen as being the former Defensive Player of the Year, as he did not seem able to guard either Howard or Lewis well and was deemed expendable. The Cavs were set on preparing to beat Orlando a year after they had mentally prepared themselves to beat a Boston team they would not even get to face in 2009. (History would repeat itself in 2010 as the Cavs lost to the Celtics again rather than getting a rematch with the Magic.)
Around the same time, Kinsey, who saw minimal action versus Orlando, was arrested for a DUI. The Cavs would release him a month later as they filled his spot with Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon.
After being the Magic's second leading scorer versus the Cavs, Rashard Lewis would be suspended in August for 10 games due to having elevated testosterone levels. How much of a factor was this in the 2009 ECF? His scoring would steadily decline for the rest of his career.
September would carry more bad news for Cleveland as West was arrested for speeding on his motorcycle and carrying multiple guns. This foreshadowed other mental health difficulties West would face in the coming years. There was also a massive rumor that will not be repeated here involving West during the 2009-2010 season. Overall, he would never be the same player after getting arrested and being reduced to a bench role.
The Cavs would go on to have their only other 60+ win season in team history (61-21 final record), but Coach Brown would be let go after the season as part scapegoat, part marketing ploy to bring in a new coach to try to keep James in town. (Owner Dan Gilbert first chased after Tom Izzo but ended up hiring Byron Scott after Izzo declined the offer.) A variety of injuries and roster gambles by Ferry led to the team acquiring Antawn Jamison from the Wizards by trading Z (who would return via a league rule loophole that would get closed in the offseason), Gibson getting some temporary time in the starting lineup alongside Shaq, Hickson showing signs of potential stardom but having inconsistent minutes due to having too many featured players on the roster, 'Jawario' as my oldest brother used to call it (Coach Brown never settling on J. Williams or Moon in the rotation and platooning them like a baseball lineup), and LeBron's hurt elbow (which my older brother and I saw along with everyone else during the closeout of the Bulls series). The Game 5 debacle versus the Celtics (which I also watched in person with friends and family) will forever live on as suspected evidence that LeBron was leaving and the locker room knew it.
Less than two weeks after the infamous "Decision", former 2008-2009 Cavalier Lorenzen Wright would tragically be found dead in Tennessee. It took a seven-year investigation to figure out what had happened to him in the murder and for the guilty parties to be caught.
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Competitive rebuilding would begin after James's departure. It ended up being a roster buildup for his return in 2014. Things did not turn out as hoped in 2009, but everything did work out for the team in 2016. #ALLin216 in 2016 will forever have a ring to it. Father's Day for Cleveland sports fans will always be an excuse to rewatch Cavs-Warriors Game 7. Yet, there is no 2016 parade without the rise and fall of the 2008-2009 Cleveland Cavaliers, who were the most successful regular season Cavs team in franchise history. As a part of that unforgettable 2016 championship season, Mo rejoined LeBron, albeit as his emergency backup point guard who played brief but critical minutes in Game 7 versus Golden State.
May the 2023-2024 Cavs be inspired by the 2008-2009 Cavs as they battle to keep Coach J.B. Bickerstaff and their core four of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley in place. May they also avenge the 2009 loss to Orlando as a part of a successful playoff run!