The Cleveland Cavaliers head into Orlando on Tuesday for the first of two straight road matchups with the Magic.
Cleveland (49-30) can secure the franchise’s first 50-win regular season since 2017-18 with a victory. Wins in their final three regular-season outings would give the Cavaliers their best mark heading into the playoffs since the 2016 championship squad won 57 regular-season games.
Cleveland moved to 49 wins on Sunday, ending a two-game slide with a 115-105 home defeat of Indiana. Donovan Mitchell scored 40 points for his 12th outing — and third straight — of 40-plus points on the season.
“That’s what Don does,” Darius Garland said, per Cleveland.com. “He’s elite. All-NBA player. An MVP candidate. What else can you ask for from a guy like that?”
Mitchell’s season scoring average is up to 28 points per game, 1.6 more than his previous season-best in 2020-21. He is also shooting a career-high 48.2 percent from the floor.
The young Magic (34-44) aim to both slow Mitchell and solve Cleveland’s defense, which holds opponents to an NBA-low 107 points per game.
Orlando failed to reach 100 points in each of its previous two matchups with the Cavaliers, losing by scores of 103-92 and 107-96. Both games were early in the season, however, with the most recent played on Dec. 2.
The Magic come into this week’s meetings with the Cavaliers on something of a hot streak, winning five of six since March 21, and six of eight since March 18.
Orlando picked up its second straight win with a 128-102 dismantling of Detroit on Sunday. Eight players scored in double figures, led by Jalen Suggs’ 18 points off the bench.
Magic reserves combined for 65 points in the romp; Cole Anthony scored 17, Goga Bitadze added 13, and Mortiz Wagner chipped in 11.
“We have a lot of weapons on this team,” Anthony said. “And when we get there and just play very selflessly. It’s fun.”
Orlando is averaging 118.2 points per game over its last six wins, more than six points per game above its season average.
In those six wins, Orlando has had five different leading scorers, including Suggs’ effort on Sunday.
The run has included presumptive Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero scoring 30 points March 31 vs. Washington and 21 on March 23 vs. New York; Anthony with 21 points vs. Brooklyn (March 26); Gary Harris with 22 vs. Washington (March 21); and Markelle Fultz with 28 points in a March 18 win at the Los Angeles Clippers.
Orlando is the Eastern Conference’s sole team outside of the top 10 not yet eliminated from the play-in race. With four games remaining on the Magic’s schedule and trailing 10th-place Chicago by four games, however, any combination of an Orlando loss or Bulls win eliminates the Magic.
Cleveland, meanwhile, locks itself into the No. 4 seed with a win or Knicks’ loss down the stretch. The Cavaliers are 2 1/2 games back of Philadelphia for the East’s No. 3 seed with three games on their schedule remaining, and the 76ers playing four more times.
–Field Level Media
