HOME COOKIN’
After taking two on the chin over the weekend in Orlando, the Wine & Gold look to take back control of the series on Tuesday night when they welcome the Magic to Cleveland for Game 5.
The Cavaliers took the first two games of the First Round set in convincing fashion on their home floor, but it was a different story in central Florida – with the Magic drubbing Cleveland by 38 points in Game 3 before using a 37-10 third quarter outburst to take another one-sided decision two days later. In Saturday afternoon’s loss, the Cavs led by nine points at the break before Orlando turned the tide after intermission – shooting 58 percent from the floor, including 53 percent from deep in the second half.
One game after Paolo Banchero went off for 31 points, Franz Wagner erupted for 34, going 13-for-17 from the floor and leading both squads with 13 boards in the Game 4 blowout. Jarrett Allen led Cleveland, scoring 16 of his 21 points before the break, but he was the only Cavalier to top the 20-point plateau over the weekend.
After hosting Game 5 on Tuesday night, the series shifts back to Orlando on Friday for Game 6. If the First Round goes seven games, the final goes down on Sunday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
BENCH TRIAL
Aside from the big performances by Banchero and Wagner over the weekend in Orlando, the Magic bench awoke as well.
Orlando’s second unit struggled mightily through the first two games in Cleveland. Mo Wagner went 9-of-16 from the floor in Games 1 and 2 while the rest of the reserves went 3-for-29. But they reversed that trend over the next two meetings.
In last Thursday night’s drubbing, Orlando’s bench outscored Cleveland’s, 46-36, and it was even worse in Game 4, closing the contest with a 43-15 advantage. Jonathan Isaac, who came off the bench after starting the first two games of the series, led all reserves with 16 points. Markelle Fultz, who’d totaled just a single point in both games in Cleveland, notched double-figures in both games in Orlando.
Caris LeVert has been Cleveland’s top reserve all season, but he’s struggled offensively through the first four games of the series. He chipped in with 15 points in last Thursday’s loss, but is shooting just 33 percent in the series, going 2-for-13 from long-distance through four games.
The sledding’s been even tougher for Cleveland’s second-best scorer off the bench, Georges Niang, who’s shooting 23 percent from the floor through four games, canning just one triple in 11 attempts.
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
It’s no secret that the Cavaliers go as Donovan Mitchell goes – and Cleveland’s five-time All-Star struggled over the two-game set in Orlando.
After looking like himself in the series opener – leading both teams with 30 points on 11-for-21 shooting – and adding 23 points and eight assists in Game 2, Mitchell had an uneven run in Games 3 and 4 in the Sunshine State.
Mitchell came down awkwardly in a first quarter spill last Thursday night and was never quite the same after – finishing with just 13 points on 6-of-16 shooting in the loss. On Saturday afternoon, Mitchell looked like he’d rediscovered his rhythm – pouring in 18 points before intermission. But he went scoreless in the second stanza, missing all four shots he attempted.
Jalen Suggs, who’s hectored Mitchell through those two games, has turned his First Round fate around – exploding for 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting on Thursday night and turning in another solid showing on Saturday, finishing with 13 points, going 4-of-7 from the floor.