ORLANDO - It wasn’t too often during the regular season that the Orlando Magic trailed by nine points or more at halftime. It happened 16 times, and they went 3-13 in those contests.
That, however, was the position the Magic were in on Saturday afternoon at Kia Center in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. While many inexperienced playoff teams would have folded in that situation, not this Magic team.
Led by Franz Wagner, who finished with 34 points, Orlando erased a nine-point deficit at intermission to roll past the Cavs 112-89 and even up the series at 2-2.
“We got stops all second half,” Wagner said. “I thought in the second half we did a great job of taking care of the ball and eliminating their easy points in transition. I thought everybody was really locked in – everybody that came off the bench was really locked in in that second half. Great defensive effort.”
The Magic, down 60-51 at the break, outscored the Cavs by 27 in that tide-turning third quarter. In those 12 minutes, Cleveland scored just 10 points on 21.1 percent overall floor shooting.
Orlando, on the other hand, was scorching. In the third, it shot 59.1 percent overall and 60 percent from beyond the arc.
With Wagner scoring over 30 in this contest and Paolo Banchero scoring over 30 in Game 3, they are the first Magic duo since Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O’Neal in 1996 to each have 30-plus points in consecutive postseason games.
In Game 4, five Magic players finished in double figures in scoring, including Wagner, Jonathan Isaac (14), Jalen Suggs (12), Markelle Fultz (12) and Wendell Carter Jr. (11). Paolo Banchero had an off night for his standards, tallying nine points on 4-of-14 shooting.
Orlando’s defense continues to be superb. Cleveland has yet to reach 100 points this series and is shooting just 26.7 percent from 3-point distance.
The 29 points scored by the Cavs in the second half were tied for the fewest after halftime by an Orlando opponent in the postseason.
“Just sticking with it,” Isaac said. “You give us a two-and-a-half, three-minute stretch where we can play the defense that we are known to play, we can (build) the lead on any game. That’s a part of what makes us dangerous, and we were able to showcase that tonight.”
Jarrett Allen led the Cavs on Saturday with 21 points, while Donovan Mitchell scored 18 and Darius Garland and Evan Mobley each had 14.
Like Game 3, Orlando dominated on the glass. They out-rebounded Cleveland 43-29 and had eight offensive boards.
The home crowds – at both Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland and Kia Center in Orlando – have been electric and have played a huge factor in the outcome of the games.
Kia Center, specifically, has rapidly become one of the most difficult places to play for opponents. The Magic were 29-11 in the regular season in their home building. The Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks were the only two Eastern Conference teams in the regular season with more home victories than the Magic.
The scene now shifts back to Cleveland for Game 5 on Tuesday. Tipoff time is still TBD.