For all the attention Dwight Howard is getting for poisoning the reeling L.A. Lakers, the wreckage of his previous handiwork is a far uglier sight to behold, as the Orlando Magic have now dropped 12 straight and 22-of-25 after a 119-108 setback to your Cleveland Cavaliers last night. The Cavs, meanwhile, improved to 6-2 since the back-page trade that brought Marreese Speights and Wayne Ellington to town. Apparently, a serviceable bench really does go a long way.

Back on December 19, the Magic and Lakers had basically the same record (12-13 and 12-14, respectively), and Orlando fans were feeling somewhat optimistic and pleased to be free of their 7-foot locker room cancer. Two months later, the Lakers are still bad, but the Magic (14-36) now look like frontrunners for the top lottery position. As for the Cavs (16-34), the tide seems to be moving in the other direction—which may or may not be a good thing depending on your philosophy on these things. Cleveland, led once again by its soon to be All-Star and 3-Point Shootout representative Kyrie Irving (24 pts, 8 rbs, 6 assts), has won three straight, pulling them within 2 games or less of six lottery teams bunched ahead of them (Toronto and Detroit in the Eastern Conference and Phoenix, Sacramento, New Orleans, and Minnesota in the West).

Returning to the theme of bench quality, it was the clear difference in this ballgame. The Magic got strong performances out of all its starters. Howard’s replacement, Nikola Vucevic, was particularly effective, scoring 11 first-quarter points on his way to a career-high 25 (along with 13 boards to boot). Forward Andrew Nicholson connected on 9-of-13 shots on the night for 21 points, Arron Afflalo added 23, and Jameer Nelson posted an impressive double-double with 15 points and 13 assists. Not surprisingly, these combined efforts had Orlando in the game most of the way, with the score tied at 56 at the half. Things slipped away in the third quarter, though, when the Magic bench was forced to hold its own against Cleveland’s suddenly solid second unit.

Trailing 80-77 with 2:24 to go in the third, the Cavs ran out on a 13-0 run in the next four minutes, with most of the heavy lifting done by three guys who weren’t on the team at the start of the year—Speights, Ellington, and Shaun Livingston. From there, Irving performed his usual fourth quarter heroics, scoring 7 points in the last 3:27 to stretch the Cavs lead out to a comfortable double digits.  But if we’re giving out game balls, this one has to go to Marreese Speights, the ex-Grizzly who’s looking more and more like a viable contributor for next season.

Now, it’s probably worth mentioning that Marreese shot a miserable 3-13 from the field in this contest. So how does a 23% shooting percentage earn you MVP credits? Well, mainly because Speights countered his struggles from the floor by getting himself to the charity stripe. In just 22 minutes, Speights got to the line 6 times, making all 12 of his free throws, including a whole string of them down the stretch. He wound up with 18 points and 5 boards on the night, leading a bench that outscored Orlando’s by a 51-15 count! Speights’ old Memphis teammate Wayne Ellington added 14, while C.J. Miles and Livingston contributed 8 points a piece.

As for the Cleveland starters, Tristan Thompson (7-11, 16 pts, 5 rbs) and Dion Waiters (6-10, 15 pts) were both selective with their shots and complemented their equally baby-faced superstar admirably.

Kyrie continues to play at a scary level, leading most Cavalier fans to anticipate all sorts of potential horrors awaiting their hero at the NBA All-Star Weekend. Perhaps the 3-Point Shootout will lead to a shoulder injury that will hamper him for the rest of his days. Perhaps Dion Waiters will charge over Kyrie at the Rookies vs. Sophomores game, slicing through his teammate’s ACLs in the process. Or maybe the misery will come in the All-Star Game itself, when Kyrie becomes so bored watching Lebron dribble away the shot clock at the top of the key, that he decides professional basketball is no longer his calling. In any case, it was fun while it lasted.

The Cavs are back at it tonight, hosting the 32-18 Denver Nuggets at the Q.

For a young team like the Cavaliers it’s easy to get up for a game like last Saturday’s triumph over the Thunder- a weekend night, a sellout crowd and a championship contender on the bill. The tough part is following up that emotional effort in a game like Wednesday night’s at the Q. The hapless Charlotte Bobcats were in town, and it wouldn’t have been surprising to see Cleveland slip back into the flat, sluggish state that characterized last week’s losses to Golden State and Detroit.

Instead the Cavaliers did what young teams do all too seldom- followed up a great effort with a better one. They thoroughly dominated Charlotte, 122-95, posting the franchise’s largest margin of victory since May 7^th, 2010- back when You-Know-Who was still wearing a Wine & Gold uniform. The Bobcats are now 4-31 since getting off to a 7-5 start way back in November. Cleveland, meanwhile, has now won six of its last nine. Offense, defense, starters, the bench- everybody kicked ass for the Cavaliers, who are definitely trending upward as the season winds into its second half.   

Kyrie Irving, who was so spectacular in eviscerating Russell Westbrook and the Thunder last Saturday and who beat the Bobcats with a last-second jumper back on January 4th, didn’t need to go off to win this one. Although his overall numbers were sparkling- 22 points on 8-of-12 from the field and 5-of-5 from downtown to go with 4 rebounds and 3 assists- the super sophomore was just one of many outstanding performers for the Cavaliers.

The star of the night was the other first-rounder in the Class of 2011. Tristan Thompson roasted the Bobcats for 19 and 11 on 8-of-10 shooting last month in Charlotte and he was at it again on Wednesday night, lighting up the visitors with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting (3-of-4 from the line) with 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks. He took over in the second quarter, dumping in 13 points as Cleveland blew it wide open with a 27-6 run to take a 28-point lead just before halftime. Tristan was a terror on defense too, altering shots and helping make life miserable for the slashing Kemba Walker, who finished with 5 points on 2-of-11 shooting.

As someone who had all but given up hope on Tristan becoming a really serviceable NBA player, I’m stunned and delighted by the way he’s stepped up his game this season. The kid has actually developed a go-to offensive move- the running hook, which he can execute with both hands- and he’s playing with control and confidence, a far cry from the frantic cluelessness that marked most of his rookie year. He’s even hitting his free throws with reasonable regularity, shooting 64 percent from the stripe thus far- not bad at all for a guy who wasn’t even at 50 percent as a collegiate.

I don’t know if Tristan is ever going to be an All-Star caliber player, but more and more he’s looking like a guy you can live with as a regular. Judging by his visible on-court improvement he’s a hard-working, dedicated player, and he should only continue to improve. With so many of the other top-ten draftees from 2011 struggling, maybe Chris Grant got this pick a bit more right than some of us were willing to give him credit for.   

Dion Waiters also had a big night. The rookie from Syracuse shot over 50 percent in a game for the first time since January 14^th, hitting 9-of-14 on the way to a 19-point, 5-assist performance. When Dion attacks the basket early it’s usually a solid portent, and he did so on Wednesday night. He’s a good free-throw shooter (77 percent) and a lousy three-point shooter (32 percent); it stands to reason he’s far more effective when he’s in the paint than when he’s chucking up that sidewinding jumper from 23 feet out.

The bench also got involved, led by the two new imports from Memphis. Marreese Speights followed up his brilliant outing against OKC with an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double in just 19 minutes of work. Wayne Ellington poured in 16 on 7-of-12 shooting and added 5 rebounds and 3 assists in 22 minutes. Overall the reserves contributed 35 points, 20 rebounds and 17 assists, with Shaun Livingston and Luke Walton dishing out 11 dimes between them.

Offensively Cleveland was a finely tuned machine, shooting 56.7 percent and compiling an impressive 33-to-6 assist-to-turnover ratio. (To be sure, Charlotte is probably the worst defensive team in the NBA.) Defensively, although they allowed 47.4 percent shooting and fell asleep at times as is their wont, the Cavaliers forced 13 turnovers and controlled the backboards, 52-42. To beat Charlotte in itself is unremarkable. To do so in such resounding fashion, after one of the most emotional games of the season, represents a nice sign of growth for this youthful squad.

Next: Friday night when the Orlando Magic come to town for a 7:30 tip. Six days before Christmas the Magicians were 12-13 and looked pretty good for a team that had just watched Dewey Howard walk out the door. Since then they’re 2-22 and will drag an 11-game losing streak into the Q. Paraphrasing Jim Mora: In my opinion, they suck.

I have to admit, I take some perverse pleasure in watching Orlando crumble. I’m still bitter about the 2009 ECF. I’m not a Dewey Howard fan- he tries way too hard to be funny and he isn’t, and people who try way too hard to be funny and aren’t work my nerves- and the Magic didn’t have any class in victory. I know that Cavaliers team didn’t have any class either, what with the fake photo shoots and LeBron walking off the court after Game 6 and all, but that doesn’t mean I had to like watching them get shown up. My fondest wish for Friday is for Tristan Thompson to get 20 rebounds and 10 blocks and tell a bunch of lame jokes afterward, just to remind Magic fans of what they’ve lost.

For Cavaliers fans concerned that the recent run of quality basketball might damage the team’s Draft Lottery position, Tuesday night’s 108-95 loss to the Warriors at the Q should serve as a bit of reassurance. Golden State was playing for the second night in a row and for the fourth time in five nights and was without four players, including leading scorer Stephen Curry and top bench players Carl Landry and rookie Harrison Barnes.

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It’s an “off the cuff” edition of The Weekend wrap this week. Some thoughts on the Browns, the Cavs, Art Modell’s Hall of Fame candidacy and whatever else pops into my head while I dedicate the time to to think about our North Coast sports scene.

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