ORLANDO, Fla. — The Cavaliers didn't roll over this time in Orlando. In fact, with a short-handed and hobbled roster, they played about as well as could be expected.
But it wasn't quite enough, and now their entire season (and potentially their future as an organization) comes down to one game.
Cleveland fell to the Magic 103-96 Friday night in Game 6 of the teams' first-round NBA playoff series, forcing a do-or-die Game 7 Sunday afternoon at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Unlike the previous two road blowouts in Games 3 and 4, the Cavs came out of the locker room strong and led following the third quarter, but seemingly ran out of gas over the final 12 minutes.
Despite obviously laboring with his lingering knee injury, Donovan Mitchell was absolutely brilliant, scoring 50 points on 22 of 36 shooting to almost seemingly singlehandedly will the Cavaliers to a series victory. That's the second-most points ever scored in a playoff game by any player in franchise history, trailing only LeBron James' mark of 51 in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals.
Unfortunately, the rest of Cleveland's nine-man rotation combined for just 46 points, making this the fifth time this series the team couldn't crack the 100 mark. In fact, all of their 18 fourth-quarter points (and their last 22 overall) were scored by Mitchell himself, a shocking fact for an group that was supposed to be sporting its deepest roster perhaps since winning the league championship eight years ago.
The Cavs' chances were hurt even before tipoff, when it was announced center Jarrett Allen would miss his second straight game with a rib injury. Marcus Morris Sr. took his place in the starting lineup, but after a strong 12-point effort in Game 5, he scored only two tonight, although he did manage to haul in eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, Darius Garland appeared to be showing some assertiveness, driving to the basket time after time for 21 points over the first three quarters. But in the fourth quarter, he attempted just one field goal, a 3-pointer in the final seconds when the game was already out of reach.
Max Strus added a solid 10 points with eight boards, but no other Cleveland player managed to score more than four. In particular, Evan Mobley struggled immensely inside, missing several short layups while nursing a rolled ankle suffered in the first half.
Leading by five heading into the final period, Orlando pulled a head with a 6-0 run capped by a Cole Anthony finger roll. Back-and-forth things went with Mitchell essentially playing 1-on-5, but Paolo Banchero's long 3-pointer gave the Magic the lead for good with 3:39 left. It was the start of a stretch that saw Banchero score nine of 11 points for the team, putting things out of reach as Cleveland sputtered with sloppy play.
"We had seven turnovers in the fourth quarter," Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said during his postgame press conference. "It's hard to overcome not getting shots on goal against a good defensive team."
With Allen out, Orlando also won the rebounding battle 57-50. Banchero finished with 27 points and eight boards, Franz Wagner had 26 and five, and Jalen Suggs scored 22 while nailing six 3s. That may have been the ultimate difference, as the Cavaliers themselves only made 7 of their 28 attempts from beyond the arc.
So now it's all about Game 7, with the winner earning a date with the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. However, much more could be at stake for the Cavs, with Bickerstaff potentially coaching for his job and the futures of guys like Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and others up in the air.
In laymen's terms, Sunday could be a seismic-shifting say in Cleveland, with the entire future of the roster and this second post-LeBron rebuild hanging in the balance. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.