Orlando, FL— After dominating the Cavaliers in game three, the Magic followed up that performance with another blowout victory 112-89, as they’ve now tied the series up 2-2.
“The message was like we said when we left Cleveland, take care of home court.” Jamahl Mosley pregame on the adjustments heading into game four. “I think the joy, the excitement of winning the first game, that’s great, but you have to move on. You have to go out, repeat the effort, knowing it’s going to be tougher, knowing they’re gonna come out and play harder.”
This game wasn’t pretty from the start and it was essentially all Cleveland in the first half. The Magic came out and were sloppy with the ball as they had 11 first-half turnovers and didn’t do a good job of protecting the paint. Jalen Suggs and Paolo Banchero combined for nine of the Magic’s 11 first-half turnovers, as the Cavs led going into the halftime locker room 60-51.
Orlando responded to Mosley’s message with one of, if not their best defensive performances of the season. After the Cavaliers had scored 60 first-half points, including 40 in the paint, they were limited to 10 third-quarter points and 29 second-half points. The Magic forced the Cavs into 15 turnovers this afternoon, and Orlando looked like the much more assertive and physical team in that second half.
“I thought we were extremely aggressive, played with great tempo, got to the rim at 40 points in the first half in the paint.” Cavaliers Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff on what happened in that third quarter. “That was an area we were trying to attack and, third quarter we didn’t get to those same spots. We didn’t play at the same tempo. And they came out, went on a run and we didn’t match it.”
Donovan Mitchell and the entire Cavaliers team were held in check by the Magic in the second half. Mitchell, who put together a great first half with 18 points on 5-10 shooting from the floor, went scoreless and committed four of his six turnovers in the second half. The Cavaliers in the third quarter scored 10 points while shooting a poor 4-18 (22.2%) from the field and just 2-9 (22.2%) from deep.
Orlando responded with one of the most lopsided third quarters and halves of basketball you will ever witness. That third period of play featured highlight-level reel plays all over the floor and the crowd at the Kia Center was on fire all night long. The Magic opened the floodgates and outscored the Cavs 37-10 in that third quarter as they shot 13-22 (59.1%) from the floor and 6-10 (60%) from deep all in that third period. The Magic would close the quarter on a 31-5 run and they would go into the final period of play leading 88-70.
The Magic continued to keep their foot on the gas pedal, and they went on to dominate the fourth quarter and come out with the win. A young and gritty Magic team that found themselves with their backs against the wall coming into both of these home matchups, has responded in such a dominant fashion, as they continue to do it by committee.
Donovan Mitchell of the Cavs expressed his level of frustration in the postgame press conference as he stated,
“They [Orlando] came out to aggressive the way they started in game three. We weren’t able to respond. And, you know, that’s the biggest thing. It’s just you can’t have a drought like that. It starts with me—10 points is outrageous. We have to be better. I have to be better. I’m disappointed in myself, and I’ll be better.”
After Paolo Banchero led the way for this Magic team in game three with 31 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, and shot an efficient 13-26 from the floor, it was now Franz Wagner’s turn to take over for this squad. Franz Wagner was head and shoulders the best player on the court in game four as he finished the afternoon with 34 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, and shot an incredible 13-17 (76.4%) from the field.
Over the last decade, only three players have recorded a playoff game with 30+ points, 10+ rebounds, zero turnovers, and a +25, and two of those names are Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero within three days.
“I give them credit. They did their thing on their own floor.” Donovan Mitchell on how difficult it is to gameplan for both Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. “Two talented players. We knew that coming into this series. But, yea they’ve protected their own floor. You gotta give them credit, so we gotta do the same thing.”
Jamahl Mosley was asked a similar question about Franz and Paolo in the postgame about how special the both of them are and he responded by saying,
“You just said it, they’re both extremely special. And the beauty of two stars that can play off each other and celebrate the other star, that’s a beautiful thing. You can watch that unfold in real-time and watch each other guy celebrate the next man next to him, I thought it was fantastic.”
Orlando finished the night with another stellar performance on both sides of the floor. Offensively the Magic had another scoring outburst with 112 points all while shooting 43-77 (55.8%) from the floor, knocking down 12-26 (46.2%) shots from long range, and they connected on 14-19 (73.7%) shots from the charity stripe. Defensively the Magic continue to be elite as they’ve now held the Cavaliers to under 100 points in all four of the games of this series so far.
The Magic have dropped the first two games of a series nine times in their playoff history and have never won any of those series (0-9 in those instances). This Orlando team has responded in a big way by tying this series at two games a piece, and they have a chance to rewrite history for this Magic franchise.
Jonathan Issac was asked postgame about the message to the fans for game six at home and he simply stated, “Take care of business first.” That will be the mentality and mindset for this Magic team as they will look to steal game five on the road in Cleveland on April, 30th at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
