ORLANDO, Florida (AP) — Paolo Banchero and the rapidly maturing Orlando Magic are on a roll in the NBA playoffs.
The 21-year-old All-Star forward scored 10 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter Friday night, helping one of the NBA’s youngest teams overcome Donovan Mitchell’s 50 points and defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 103-96 in a decisive Game 7. Got help. In their first-round playoff series.
Three nights after scoring a career-best 39 on 14 of 24 shooting in the postseason, leaving the Magic on the brink of elimination in a one-point road loss, Banchero overcame his team and led them to their biggest loss in years. Took to victory. ,
Franz Wagner had 26 points and Jalen Suggs made six 3-pointers and finished with 22 for the Magic, who pulled away in the closing minutes, with Banchero hitting a 3-pointer that put Orlando ahead 92–89.
“We’ve definitely learned a lot through this series, seeing what works and what doesn’t,” Banchero said. “Knowing what we have to do to win games.”
Mitchell had a stellar performance for Cleveland, scoring all 18 of his team’s points in the fourth quarter. Darius Garland finished with 21, but the Cavs were ultimately unable to overcome poor 3-point shooting (7 of 28).
Game 7 is Sunday in Cleveland, where the Cavs won Games 1, 2 and 5 and clearly played better on the road, where they have lost seven consecutive playoff games with a LeBron James-led Game 7 win in Boston in 2018 . Eastern Conference Finals.
“I’m excited. It’s a do-or-die situation, so we have to pull together and make another special effort,” Banchero said as he looked forward to Sunday.
The Cavs have not won a postseason series since. The Magic, in the playoffs for the first time since 2020, are looking for their first series win in 14 years.
“Our guys will be ready right now,” Cleveland coach JB Bickerstaff said. “They’ve been really good at home and we don’t expect that to change.”
Orlando improved from 22 wins in 2021-22, its first season under coach Jamahl Mosley, to 34 last year and 47 this season with a Southeast Division title.
“Being on the road to Game 7, the ability to come together and push each game, I think that’s what this group is looking forward to,” Mosley said. “This is not going to be easy, nor do we want it to be easy. The harder it is, the better we will be.”
Orlando won Games 3 and 4 by a combined 61 points, yet came out with a slightly different look Friday night, inserting forward Jonathan Isaac into the starting lineup and shifting Wagner from forward to guard to replace four 6-foot -10 players placed on the floor. At the same time.
With center Jarrett Allen out for the second straight game with a rib injury, the Cavs moved Evan Mobley to center and used 34-year-old Marcus Morris Sr. coming off the bench to score 12 points and put Cleveland up. After the introduction of Marcus Morris Sr. Materiality.
The Cavs trailed 53–49 at halftime and were fortunate the deficit was not larger, considering they missed 13 of 14 3-point attempts.
With the aggressive Mitchell and Garland driving to the basket at will, Cleveland converted 22 of 32 shots inside the arc and finished shooting 50% overall (23 of 46) before the break to stay close.
They finally got hot from long range in the third quarter, with Mitchell and Max Strus making 3-pointers during their 17–4 lead to start the period. The Magic trailed by nine before closing to within 78–73 in the fourth quarter.
Mitchell finished 22 of 36 from the field, including three of nine on 3-point attempts. He scored the final 22 points for Cleveland, including all 18 of his points in the fourth quarter.
Mitchell said, “We did a great job staying together and we were all locked into each other, but ultimately we didn’t win, so we just have to go home and take care of business.” “We didn’t win the game. At the end of the day, I had 50 runs but we lost.”
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