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‘What a spectacular win’ - Fans react as Orlando Magic beats Cleveland Cavaliers by 103-96

Paolo Banchero scored 10 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter of the Orlando Magic's 103-96 triumph over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.

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Varun Sarwate
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Paolo Banchero scored 10 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter of the Orlando Magic's 103-96 triumph over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night. The victory allowed the club to overcome Donovan Mitchell's fifty points and force a crucial Game 7 in their NBA playoff series against the Cavaliers.

The twenty-one-year-old Banchero lifted his team to their greatest victory in years three nights after he had scored 39 points on 14 of 24 shots in a one-point road loss that had Orlando Magic on the verge of elimination. Franz Wagner scored 26 points, while Jalen Suggs made six 3-pointers and ended with 22 for the Magic, who drew away in the final minutes, with Banchero making a 3-pointer to put Orlando up for good at 92-89. 

Mitchell was outstanding for Cleveland Cavaliers, scoring all 18 of the team's points in the fourth quarter. Darius Garland finished with 21, but the Cavs were unable to overcome their terrible three-point shooting (7 of 28). 

Cleveland shot 50% overall (23 of 46) before the break to keep close, making 22 of 32 shots inside the arc thanks to an aggressive Mitchell and Garland who seemed to be driving to the basket at whim. In the third quarter, they finally got hot from long range, starting the frame with a 17–4 run led by 3-pointers from Mitchell and Max Strus. Before coming within 78-73 heading into the fourth quarter, they fell by as much as nine points.

Cleveland Cavaliers will be back home for Game 7

On Sunday, the Cavaliers will play Game 7 at home in Cleveland, where they won Games 1, 2, and 5. It is evident that they perform better at home than away, where they have lost seven straight postseason games since a LeBron James led Game 7 triumph at Boston in the 2018 Eastern Conference finals. Since then, the Cavaliers have lost every postseason series. For the first time since 2020, the Magic are back in the playoffs and looking for their first series victory in fourteen years. 

Orlando Magic won Games 3 and 4 by a combined 61 points, but came out on Friday night with a somewhat different look, adding big Jonathan Isaac into the starting lineup and changing Wagner from forward to guard to have four 6-foot-10 players on the court at the same time. 

 

Here are twitter reaction to the news:

NBA Cleveland Cavaliers Orlando Magic