After dropping the first two games of their best-of-seven first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Orlando Magic pounced early and often Thursday night.
All-Star forward Paolo Banchero scored 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Magic, who led by 16 at halftime, to victory. Guard Jalen Suggs had 24 points, as he and Banchero combined to shoot 7 of 14 from 3. Forward Franz Wagner added 16 points and eight assists to hand the Cavs their worst playoff loss in the franchise history.
Magic 121, Cavaliers 83
Series: Cleveland, 2-1
Game 4: noon ET Saturday in Orlando (TNT)
Orlando finds its swagger
In between his barrage of baskets, Banchero spent the evening telling the Cavaliers how small they were.
P5 in the 🅿️ost pic.twitter.com/NJ2KAvqFoG
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) April 25, 2024
When Suggs wasn’t busy burying a 3, ripping the ball away and tearing the rim off with a dunk, he had all sorts of things to say to the Cleveland bench.
Franz Wagner, after a bucket, turned around and screamed at Marcus Morris, who had yet to play in the game for the Cavs, and called him an “a–hole.”
It wasn’t just that the Magic dominated Game 3 in every conceivable way. It was the attitude they brought with it. We’re talking about a team with a rotation player (Cole Anthony) who hadn’t made a shot through two games, a team that had to swap out its starting center because he’d been rendered unplayable against Jarrett Allen, a team that, until the 5:27 mark of the first quarter, hadn’t lead in this series.
So quickly, the Magic strutted, jaws way out front, chests not far behind, as though they were ahead 2-1 in this series, which is not the case.
Orlando moved Jonathan Isaac to the bench in favor of Wendell Carter Jr., and while Carter’s numbers were almost null, his presence in the middle seemed to change the flow. Allen had 15 points and eight boards in 24 minutes, but he was no longer the dominant player on the court as he had been in the first two games.
Banchero was awesome, but for the first time in this series, Orlando won the rebounding and paint scoring battles. Isaac was also better off the bench, with more room to move when only one of Cleveland’s two bigs (Allen and Evan Mobley) was on the court.
Cleveland needs more from Darius Garland (five points, 2-of-10 shooting), and Donovan Mitchell was not good (6-of-16 shooting). But above all else, there was a glaring lack of fire, intensity and swagger from the team that, until Thursday night, after about one quarter, was thoroughly in command of this series. — Joe Vardon
Guards finally get going
As Game 3 approached, the Magic faced a troubling trend — a trend that, if it continued, would have almost certainly led to a quick postseason exit for them.
In the series’ first two games, Orlando received almost no offense from its top-four backcourt players: starters Suggs and Gary Harris and reserves Cole Anthony and Markelle Fultz. The quartet entered Thursday shooting a combined 11 of 52 from the field and 5 of 27 from beyond the arc.
The tide started to turn with 7:34 remaining in Thursday’s second quarter. From the paint, Suggs hurled a pass to Wagner in the left corner, and Wagner sank a 3. That assist appeared to give Suggs some momentum.
On Orlando’s next trip, Suggs drained a 3 from the right wing, making him 2-of-11 from long range in these playoffs.
Late in the first quarter, Anthony recorded his first field goal of the series after 11 total misses from the field in the first two games.
In Game 3, the Suggs-Harris-Anthony-Fultz quartet combined to go 17-of-27 from the field, 4-for-11 from 3 and 9-of-10 from the line. They scored 47 of Orlando’s 121 points.
Of course, it’s too early to know if Magic’s backcourt production Thursday will start a new trend. Suggs, Harris, Anthony and Fultz will have to have a strong Game 4 for that to happen.
But it’s fair to say that one trend ended Thursday. Orlando’s guards finally broke through. — Josh Robbins
This story will be updated.
(Photo of Paolo Banchero and Max Strus: Mike Watters / USA Today)
