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Last season the Cavaliers had no answer for Dwight Howard. He dominated their front court in the Eastern Conference Finals, leading to an early exit for the top-seeded Cavs and the realization that a change needed to be made. Enter in Shaquille O’Neal, the original Superman, this past off season to try and contain the new Superman on nights like Wednesday.

It didn’t take long in the Cavs’ first game of the season against the Magic to feel Shaq’s impact.

The Cavaliers went to O’Neal early, throwing the ball to him in the post several times over the first couple minutes. Howard got his first foul against O’Neal just over a minute into the game and his second with 9:41 remaining. Magic coach Stan Van Gundy quickly went to his bench, subbing in Marcin Gortat for his star center.

Impact felt.

With Howard out of the game, Mo Williams and LeBron James went to work. James scored 13 points in the opening quarter and Williams pitched in nine to give the Cavaliers a seven-point after the opening 12 minutes. Although Howard returned for the second quarter, the Cavaliers continued to control the game. They ran their offense as smoothly as they have all season and headed into the half up 66-51, led by a perfect 9-9 shooting half for Williams.

The presence of O’Neal continued to be felt as the second half began. Van Gundy decided to start both Howard and Gortat, allowing his top player to avoid guarding the Cavaliers veteran center. Although the move did help to keep Howard out of foul trouble, Cleveland continued to outplay and outshoot Orlando and headed into the final quarter up 88-68.

In the game’s final period the Cavaliers saw their lead begin to shrink as the Magic started hitting perimeter shots, but it was too late and the Cavs won 102-93.

Even though O’Neal scored just 10 points in the game, he was crucial in holding Howard, who played just 32 minutes due to fouls, to 11 points.

“We’re just in attack mode,” said James. “All game we put pressure on their defense. Shaq put pressure on (Howard) and we were able to get him into some foul trouble.”

Cleveland rarely found a way to get Howard in foul trouble last season, mainly due to the lack of a post presence. It was obvious that Mike Brown wanted to feed his 37-year-old center to start the game, hoping to expose the 6′11″ Howard, which would in turn allow the Cavaliers more freedom on offense.

That freedom helped them to shoot 10-14 from beyond the arc, compared to just 4-18 for the Magic, who rely heavily on three-point shooting. Williams hit four of the Cavs three-pointers en route to a season-high 28 points. It was a good bounce-back game for the seventh-year pro after averaging just 11.5 points over the previous two games.

“You never know how the ball is going to fall,” said Williams. “Some nights are better than others and tonight was a good night.”

James also had a good night for the Cavaliers as he scored 36 points on 13-23 from the floor, but seemed most excited about the play of his teammates.

“It was an all-around good performance by the team,” said James.

Both teams did play without a vital piece in the game. Delonte West was inactive for the Cavaliers for an unknown reason, and Magic forward Rashard Lewis is still out because of a suspension for using a performance-enhancing substance.

Although an early regular season game can only mean so much, the Cavaliers have to feel confident about their future against the Magic, especially with O’Neal manning the middle.