The Cavs drop game 6 to the Orlando Magic 103-96 without big man Jarrett Allen.
The Magic force a game 7 back in Cleveland for the opportunity to advance to the Eastern Conference Semi-finals.
The Cavs’ played their second consecutive game without center Jarrett Allen who was ruled out with a right rib contusion. The Orlando Magic also dealing with injuries missed Gary Harris who was out with a right hamstring strain, Jonathan Isaac started in his absence.
With Allen being sidelined the Cavs turned to the veteran Marcus Morris Sr to start instead of Game 5 starter Isaac Okoro. Morris in 14 1st half minutes scored 2 points and shot ¼ from the floor including 0/2 from the 3-point land. Morris’ defense didn’t make up for his subpar offense, he was a +/- minus 5 during his time on the floor. The Magic repeatedly attacked Morris when he was the on-ball defender.
Morris Sr. wasn’t the only Cavalier to struggle on offense, outside of Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell the Cavs shot 7/21 from the floor and 1/9 from behind the arc.
The Cavs entered halftime trailing 53-49.
Despite the Magic implementing a big man lineup featuring at times 4 players 6 foot 10 with Jonathan Isaac being inserted into the starting lineup. Garland and Mitchell scored 25 of the Cavs’ 49 1st half-points.
With the Cavs struggling to make shots from the outside, Garland and Mitchell successfully got into the paint to create offense in the latter part of the 2nd quarter. The two guards combined shot 16/20 inside the arc.
The Cavs escaped another potential loss after Evan Mobley left the floor at 4:47 mark in the second quarter after rolling his left ankle. Mobley did return to start the 2nd half. Mobley ended the game with 3 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks.
The Cavs' defense held the Magic to just over 40% shooting from the floor and won the points of turnovers battle 8-4. But the Cavs struggled to keep the Magic off the offensive glass with Orlando playing 3-4 players at 6’ 10”.
Franz Wagner continued to be a thorn in the Cavs side, he ended the first half with 18 points 9 on 66% shooting.
To start the 2nd half the Cavs exploded out of the half with a 13-2 run to take a 62-55 lead. Mitchell led the way with 9 points to open the quarter. However, Mitchell re-aggravated his sore left knee in the 3rd quarter. He left for just over 3 minutes of game time, over that span the Magic cut the Cavs lead down to 3.
After getting Mitchell back in the lineup, the Cavs pushed their lead back up to 5 to end the quarter thanks to a Mitchell bucket in the quarter's final seconds.
Entering the 4th quarter Mitchell had 32 points however, the Cavs' inability to make shots plagued them into the 4th quarter as Mitchell scored all of the Cavs' 18 4th quarter points on his way to a 50-point night.
The Cavs trailed by as much as 7 in the final minute. After Mitchell nailed a 3 with 20 seconds left and playing the free throw game the Cavs came up short to the Orlando Magic 103-96.
Postgame Coach Bickerstaff pointed to offensive rebounds and turnovers as the reason for the lackluster 4th quarter.
“It’s taking care of the basketball, and finishing possessions. They had five offensive rebounds in the 4th quarter. Those are extra possessions for them and seven turnovers are opportunities that we don't get to look at (the rim). So (if) we take care of the basketball, we rebound the basketball (we) give ourselves a good chance.”
The Cavs and Magic will face off for game 7 Sunday May 5th.