*** At the culmination of a bare-knuckle First Round matchup, Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers were simply not going to be denied in the deciding Game 7 – rallying back from an 18-point first-half deficit and blowing open a tight affair in the fourth quarter – winning their first Playoff series since 2018 and their first without LeBron James since 1993 – pulling past Orlando for the 106-94 win on Sunday afternoon before a deafening crowd at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mitchell posted yet another Herculean effort, erupting for a game-high 39 points, but he got plenty of help on both ends in the series-clinching victory.
*** The Cavs got off to a slow start on Sunday – shooting 27 percent in the opening period and just 35 percent by halftime as Orlando took a 10-point lead, 53-43, into the locker room. But the Cavs, who’d closed the first half on a 12-3 run, began cutting into the Magic’s lead immediately after intermission – and at the 3:39 mark of the third quarter tied the affair at 64-apiece on Donovan Mitchell’s 20-footer. By the end of the period, the Wine & Gold improved their lead to eight points – and never looked back over the game’s final 12 minutes.
J.B. Bickerstaff | Cavs vs Magic, Post Game 7 | 5.5.2024
*** J.B. Bickerstaff on his team’s resilience after intermission. “I think the way we ended the second quarter, to be able to cut the lead and get it down to 10, that's always a comfortable number that you feel like in 24 minutes, if you're playing the way that we're capable of playing, you can chip away. And you wanted to come out in that third quarter with a spirit. And I think you looked at Max making shots, Don making plays. There was just a bunch of different guys that made plays that gave us hope, and we’ve got the ultimate belief in that in a group that they can overcome a ton.”
*** In many ways, Donovan Mitchell willed the Wine & Gold into the Eastern Conference Semifinals – combining for 89 points over the final two games of the series. On Sunday afternoon, the five-time All-Star was in attack mode from the opening tip, and his 17-point third quarter pushed Cleveland over the hump – going 7-for-9 from the floor as the Cavs overtook Orlando after intermission. On the night, Mitchell went 11-of-27 from the floor, including 2-of-8 from deep and 15-of-17 from the line, grabbing nine boards, leading Cleveland with five assists, adding a steal and a blocked shot to complete another postseason masterpiece.
*** Mitchell talked postgame about getting his first Playoff series win as a Cavalier. “Well, first of all, I'm tired of losing the First Round. That's first and foremost. You work too hard; we work too hard as a group. So that was kind of my mindset, and understanding that they were going to go on a run. I'm glad it was the first half that kind of gave us something to respond to. But for me, just being attack-minded, going out, obviously battling through what I'm battling through. But I could battle through it and figure it out, or I could rehab it for the next three or four months. That's kind of where I'm at mentally.”
*** With Sunday’s victory, the Cavaliers have now won four straight Game 7s since 2018 and are now 6-2 all-time as a franchise in Game 7. Their last win in a seven-game series came against the Boston Celtics, who Cleveland will face in the Playoffs for the eighth time in team history.
*** With Jarrett Allen sidelined for the third straight game with bruised ribs, Evan Mobley stepped back into the starting center role and bounced back from a rough offensive night in Game 6 – finishing with 11 points and a game-high-tying 16 rebounds. Mobley was once again a menace around the rim – blocking five shots to become the first Cavalier in team history to swat five shots in back-to-back Playoff games. In the seven-game series, Mobley blocked 21 shots, recording multiple rejections in every game but one.
*** Caris LeVert had a rough series heading into Game 7 – shooting 33 percent from the floor, including 27 percent from deep, through the first six games. But the 8th-year man from Michigan was outstanding on Sunday afternoon – leading all reserves with 15 points, going 5-for-9 from the floor and 5-of-7 from the stripe, adding five boards, four assists, a steal and a blocked shot in 29 minutes of work off the bench.
*** LeVert, who was the first Cavalier in the gym on Sunday morning, talked about Cleveland’s second unit responding in Game 7. “I feel like our bench was getting outplayed all series, and it was going to come down to us. Don, Evan, DG – they've been huge all series. Max as well. And they needed help. So myself, Sam, (Tristan) – we tried to do as much as we could.”
*** Aside from Mobley’s monster effort, the Cavs got excellent defensive showings from the other two members of their starting backcourt – Max Strus and Isaac Okoro. Strus battled foul troubles all afternoon, but still finished with 13 points – going 5-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc – and moreover held Franz Wagner, Orlando’s second-leading scorer in the series, to just six points on 1-of-15 shooting. Okoro was 3-of-6 from the floor for eight points, but made Paolo Banchero work for every point on Sunday. The Magic’s sophomore superstar still poured in 38 points in the loss, but was just 10-of-28 from the field in doing so.
*** Darius Garland struggled though the first three quarters before coming alive the in fourth – scoring 10 of his 12 points to lead Cleveland in the period. Over the final 12 minutes, Garland went 2-of-4 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the line, adding three assists and a steal.
*** The Cavs completely clamped down on Orlando’s starting backcourt on their home floor throughout the series and again on Sunday. In the Game 7 loss, Jalen Suggs and Gary Harris were a combined 4-for-17 from the floor. In four First Round games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Suggs was a combined 13-of-38 from the field; Harris went 7-for-23.
*** The Cavaliers now advance to the Eastern Conference Semis where they’ll face the No. 1 seed and team with the NBA’s best record this past season, the Boston Celtics – traveling to Beantown for Games 1 and 2 on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. The series returns to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday. If necessary, the series goes back to Boston for Game 5 next Wednesday and comes back to Cleveland the following Friday. If the series goes the distance, Game 7 goes down on Sunday, May 17, at the TD Garden.