Cavaliers beat Magic 106-94 in Game 7
Cleveland is onto the second round.
Final: Cleveland Cavaliers 106, Orlando Magic 94 in Game 7. That’s a series win for the Cavaliers — their first since LeBron James left for the Los Angeles Lakers after the 2017-18 season.
Nightly Notables
The Cavs trailed by as many as 18 in this game. They were down 10 at the half. But the Cavs got it done, winning the third quarter 33-15 to wrest control of the game back.
Donovan Mitchell, predictably, was the Cavs’ Game 7 hero after scoring 50 in Game 6. Seventeen of his game-high 39 came in the third quarter. Max Strus had 11 of his 13 in the third. Caris LeVert had 10 of his 15 in the first half when everyone else was cold to help the Cavs score just enough to stay close.
Evan Mobley played another strong game — particularly on defense — with Jarrett Allen missing his third straight game. Mobley had 11 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 blocks in the win.
Big Picture
After all of that — two early series wins, two bad losses, a win in Game 5, and the disaster that was Game 6 — the Cavaliers headed to the second round of the NBA Playoffs.
What comes next matters — how the Cavs look against the Boston Celtics (even if Boston doesn’t have Kristaps Porzingis) and how competitive that series is will say something about what Cleveland is.
But this is also a big series win. They didn’t let some extremely low lows — including the first half of Game 7 — define them. They didn’t fold. They didn’t quit. The Cavs made some adjustments, found another gear, and showed some mental toughness we didn’t know they had. They hit adversity, got pushed down by it, stood back up, and hit back. That is something to be proud of. That toughness is something that they didn’t have last year and wasn’t even clear they had during this series.
So regardless of what is next, this is an accomplishment. They took a step forward with this win.
Up next: Game 1 between the Cavs and Celtics is scheduled for Tuesday. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.