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Magic rebound to rout Cavs for first home playoff victory in 13 years

Jason Beede, Orlando Sentinel on

Published in Basketball

ORLANDO, Fla. — The slogan on Jalen Suggs‘ shirt said it all Thursday.

“Seek discomfort.”

The Cavaliers experienced plenty.

Trailing 0-2 in the first-round series between the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds in the East entering, Orlando looked anything but uncomfortable from start to finish in its first home playoff game since 2019 inside an electric Kia Center.

Suggs (24 points) helped lift the Magic alongside Paolo Banchero (31) and Franz Wagner (16) as the trio led Orlando to a 121-83 blowout. Game 4 is in Orlando on Saturday.

The victory marks Orlando’s first playoff home win since 2011 (vs. Atlanta).

Not only did the Magic finally take their first lead of the series late in the first quarter (16-14) but they led by as many as 43 points in a game that Cleveland had no answers for their adjustments. Coach Jamahl Mosley also started Wendell Carter Jr. at center in place of Jonathan Isaac (eight points), who’d started in Games 1 and 2.

 

This win assures the series will shift back to Cleveland for Game 5 on Tuesday. The tip-off time and network information is still to be determined.

Orlando was insistent that all it needed to do was hit the open shots it was getting on the road against the Cavs. The Magic did just that in Game 3 when it passed it’s Games 1 and 2 totals (86 and 83) by the end of the third quarter.

The group shot 13 of 37 (35%) from 3-point range but more importantly limited Cleveland to just 8 of 34 (23.5%).

“It’s comfortable,” Suggs said earlier in the day. “This is how heavy the moment feels compared to the bigger picture of things. That’s where all of our are minds are.”

A windmill dunk from Suggs midway through the third quarter put the Magic ahead by 34 points and served as the exclamation point.

“All this is, is basketball.”


©2024 Orlando Sentinel. Visit at orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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