Who were the 3 Magic players who tore the Cavs up last year? A. Howard, Turkoglu and Alston (2 of them are gone this year). In 2009, The Cavs were not equipped to handle Turkoglu’s height & ball handling ability, nor the Magic’s length on the wings (Lewis/Piutrus) with the mini-backcourt of Williams/West/Gibson and the aging Szczerbian/good-for-nothing Pavlovic at the 2-3 spots in 2009…not to mention Howard running around the slow-footed Ilgauskas and over-the-hill Wallace. The Cavs are much bigger, longer and athletic this season w/ the additions of Shaq, Jamison, much-improved JJ Hickson, Parker, Powe, Moon, and Williams. The Magic are no longer a matchup problem for the Cavs with those additions, especially after losing Turkoglu/Alston and replacing them with chemistry-killer Carter and Reddick. They no longer have a size advantage (in fact, just the opposite), nor do the Magic have the ball-handlers to break down the Cleveland defense (outside of Nelson whose jump-shot doesn’t have to be honored). Because the Cavs are better defensively on the outside, the bigs no longer have to help as much and can just concentrate on banging Howard. Howard will get his points/rebounds, but he is going to have to work a lot harder to do it this year.