CLEVELAND — An ailing superstar, an inability to make shots, questionable coaching moves, costly turnovers — it’s all coming together for the Cavaliers as the playoffs approach.
Cleveland suffered its eighth defeat in 13 games Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena, getting totally dismantled by the Orlando Magic in the fourth quarter of a 101-86 loss.
“It starts with me,” said LeBron James, who had 17 points on 6-of-22 shooting and committed five careless turnovers while playing with back spasms. “I didn’t play well, so our team didn’t play well.”
For the second straight game, the Cavs (42-35) were especially horrendous in the fourth quarter, when Orlando (48-28) outscored them 32-14. Cleveland was 4-of-23 from the field in the period, making it 10-of-46 over the last two games, when it’s averaged a paltry 13.5 points in the last 12 minutes.
“I just have not been able to come through for my team in the fourth quarter,” said James, who is 1-of-12 from the field in the last two games. “I’ll be able to turn it around.
“We’ve got to figure it out. I’m going to figure it out. I’ve always been able to bounce back from situations where I didn’t play well.”
James’ teammates might be a different story.
• Daniel “Boobie” Gibson went 1-of-7 from the field and is now 5-of-24 in five games since returning from a sprained ankle, including 2-of-13 from beyond the arc.
• Devin Brown put up 15 points, six rebounds and five assists, but he committed five turnovers and was 6-of-15 from the field, making him 16-of-48 since moving back into the starting lineup four games ago.
• Delonte West had 19 points and made 7 of 10 shots — the rest of the team was 27-of-78 — but he got beat so often by former St. Joseph’s teammate Jameer Nelson, the Magic shot one wide-open 3-pointer after another.
• After two decent games, Wally Szczerbiak went back to shooting bricks, going 1-of-7 from the field.
• Anderson Varejao’s foul total (five) surpassed his scoring total (four) and equaled his rebounding mark (five) as he failed to make any kind of impact for the second game in a row.
• Ben Wallace missed a dunk for the second straight game, this one an uncontested opportunity in the first period that bounced high off the rim.
“We’re not playing good basketball right now, consistently,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “We have to fight through this.”
The Cavs were at their worst to start the third and fourth periods. Up eight at halftime, Cleveland missed its first six shots in the third quarter and didn’t score for 3:20. The Cavs topped that in the fourth, missing their first seven attempts and failing to score for the first 4:04.
“We have not been able to score in the fourth quarter,” Mike Brown said. “The tough part about it for me is I thought we had some great looks. … We have to bring a little more fight, especially in the fourth quarter.”
The Cavs were so bad they got blown out on an afternoon when Orlando center Dwight Howard missed his last seven shots and did not make a field goal after the first possession of the game.
Cleveland did a nice job of aggressively double-teaming the 21.2-point scorer, but the Magic made the Cavs pay by spacing the floor and knocking down 11 3-pointers in 26 attempts.
In winning three out of four against the Cavs, including both games at The Q, Orlando was 46-of-115 from behind the arc.
“You’ve got to pick your poison,” Howard said.
The Magic also scored 25 points off Cleveland’s 16 turnovers, many of them careless ones that led to easy runouts.
“They were bad turnovers that led to a ton of points,” Mike Brown said. “We have to do a better job.”
Orlando got 23 points from Hedo Turkoglu, 21 from Rashard Lewis, 16 from Nelson and 13 off the bench from Pat Garrity while clinching the third seed in the East, while the Cavaliers continued to play themselves back to the pack in the battle for the No. 4 spot.
“We’ve got to get better,” James said. “We know we’re a better team than how we’ve played.”

Tip-ins

The Cavs outrebounded the Magic 32-11 in the first half, but lost the battle of the boards 22-16 in the second.
• Despite all Cleveland’s shooting woes, Damon Jones did not play for the third straight game.
• Going back to the third period, the Magic closed the game on a 37-14 run.
• Orlando’s only free throw attempt of the first half came as a result of a technical on Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who finished with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

NEXT UP

WHO: Cleveland vs. New Jersey
TIME: 7 p.m.
WHERE: The Q
TV/RADIO: SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

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