The Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers will play a Game 7 in their first-round NBA playoff series despite Donovan Mitchell scoring 50 points for the Cavs.
Paolo Banchero scored 27 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Franz Wagner added 26 points (he went 11-for-11 from the free-throw line) and Jalen Suggs scored 22 (shooting 6-for-13 on 3-pointers) as the Magic tried to win their first playoff series since 2009-10. season.
Game 7 in Cleveland is scheduled for Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.
Fortune seemed to smile at the Magic from the start. This was best demonstrated during an action halfway through the first quarter. Suggs dove to prevent a ball from going out of bounds along the sideline, passing it to Wendell Carter Jr. to tap.
Carter then tried to pass the ball back to Suggs to reset the play, but almost threw it out of reach. Suggs tracked the ball near center half and when he met Marcus Morris Sr. saw far away, he shot a long three-pointer from the half-court logo that went in.
Orlando had a significant advantage in shooting from three-point range in the first quarter, going 4-of-10 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, the Cavs continued to struggle with three-point shooting, going 1-for-8. (They shot 7-for-28 from three for the game.)
Wagner also started strong and looked like he would have a dominant game after scoring 14 points in the first quarter.
Donovan Mitchell almost did it alone
Mitchell did his best to prevent the Cavs from playing a Game 7. He almost single-handedly saved the series from returning to Cleveland, scoring 50 points. Mitchell scored the final 22 points for the Cavs, including all of their points in the fourth quarter.
Mitchell’s ability to finish the game looked briefly in doubt when he went to the locker room with a knee injury midway through the third quarter. At the beginning of March he suffered a bone bruise in the same left knee, which kept him sidelined for three games.
Injuries seemed to become an issue for the Cavs, with Evan Mobley rolling an ankle in the second quarter and Jarrett Allen missing his second straight game with a bruised rib. However, Mitchell returned after a brief absence and scored 13 points in the third quarter.
Darius Garland scored 21 points to give Mitchell some help. Unfortunately, the rest of the Cavs team only scored 25 points in the Game 6 loss.
With those 50 points, Mitchell became the second player in Cavaliers team history to score that many in a playoff game, joining LeBron James, who scored 51 in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals. That postseason was the last time Cleveland won a playoff series, including a surprising first-round playoff loss to the New York Knicks last year.
Game 7 of the Magic-Cavaliers series is scheduled for Sunday in Cleveland. The home team won every game of the matchup. Tip-off is at 1:00 PM ET with the broadcast on ABC.
