CLEVELAND — A year ago, the derisive refrain was that "the lights were too bright" for the young Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA playoffs.
Not the case 12 months later. In fact, they only seemed to thrive in the physicality of the postseason.
Not out to get bullied like they were against the New York Knicks last season, the Cavs instead came ready to battle and beat the Orlando Magic 97-83 in Game 1 of their first-round series. Both teams played suffocating defense, at times, and also struggled to shoot, but in the end, Cleveland never trailed once and made just enough baskets to pull away.
Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 30 points, making 11 of his 20 attempts from the field. Both Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley also tallied double-doubles to help stifle their postseason woes from 2023, with Allen in particular hauling in 18 rebounds.
"Nothing was easy for anybody," Allen told reporters after the game, which saw the Cavaliers win the rebounding battle 54-40. "That's just the way that it's going to be this whole series."
The tone of this game was set early, with the Magic attempting to execute what Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff called a "chippy" style of play. A flashpoint came when Mobley appeared to get shoved by Orlando's Mo Wagner, but no foul was called, and instead Cleveland's Isaac Okoro received a technical foul for arguing. Moments later, Georges Niang got into it with Markelle Fultz, resulting in another T but the Cavs eventually keeping possession.
From there, the crowd was into it, often chanting at the refs for perceived "no calls." Bickerstaff was quite pleased with the way his players conducted themselves.
"We stood our ground," he said. However, in his words, "we didn't allow ourselves to get caught up in the s---."
Meanwhile, Cleveland's defense turned up the heat, with the Magic shooting just 32.6% from the field. All-Star Paolo Banchero did have 24 points, seven boards, and five assists, but also turned the ball over nine times.
The Cavs only made 44.4% of their attempts and were a mere 8 of 30 from 3-points range, but made them count. In particular, Mobley hit a pair of shots from long range that helped grab the early momentum.
Both teams struggled early in the third quarter, with the Cavaliers only having two points more than halfway through the period. Mitchell admitted the quarter gave him flashbacks of last year's debacle against the Knicks, but instead, his team responded with a 23-8 run that extended the lead to 20. Seven of those points belonged to Mitchell himself.
"'How do you respond?' That's been our message all year," Mitchell stated. "That was a great response."
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will take place Monday at 7 p.m. right back at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.