Cleveland, Ohio
Tuesday night at Rocket Mortage Fieldhouse was a must win game for both Orlando and Cleveland in the pivotal swing game in the best of seven series. The Cavs took games one and two at home, then would drop games three and four in the sunshine state. For the first time in this series the Cavaliers scored over 100 points in a game. Despite not having Jarrett Allen due to injury, the Cavs had several players step up and help out. Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points in the 104-103 win over Orlando. Darius Garland helped with 23 points of his own and his best shooting performance of the series at 56 percent from the field. Garland talked about being more involved in the offense, “I went into tonight knowing I had to be more aggressive and a shot first mentality, I had to be aggressive also for myself.”
Jarrett Allen’s injury opened the door for NBA veteran Marcus Morris Sr. He made the most of his biggeset opportunity in the playoffs thus far adding twelve points off the bench with his extended minutes. After the game he shared the moment he found out the team would call upon him, “I knew I just had to stay ready, I literally found out in warmups, I was ready.”
This evening’s unsung moment though came with five seconds remaining in the game when the Cavs center Evan Mobely prevented a game tying shot attempt by Orlando's Franz Wagner. It was a critical defensive block from behind that would lead to a turnover and a foul on the on other end of the floor sealing the win for the Cavs and taking a three games to two lead on the Magic as the series shifts back to Orlando on Friday evening.
