Wagner Leads Magic Rout of Cavaliers – Home cooking is just what the young, up and coming Magic needed to turn this series around. Of the eight first-round NBA playoff series, the 4-5 matchup between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic may have drawn the least amount of eyeballs and hype through three blowout games. However, it might be time to starting paying attention.
Thanks to Orlando’s stifling defense that was flying around, the Cavaliers scored only 29 points in the second half in the midst of an embarrassing shooting performance in Game 4 at the Kia Center on Saturday afternoon. With the 112–89 victory, the Magic have knotted the series at two games apiece.
“We’re not satisfied at all,” Wagner said. “We just got two wins. We need two more against them so we’ve got to stay locked in and try to get the next one in Cleveland.”
The Cavaliers took a nine-point lead, 60–51, into the locker room, but scored only 10 points in the third quarter. The Magic threw a knockout punch with 37 points to take control of the game and go into the fourth with a commanding 88–70 lead. The Cavs’ disappointment and frustration became quite visible midway through the quarter when Darius Garland grew tired of Jalen Suggs’ suffocating defense on him.
“Once we came back from that nine-point deficit starting the third, and they took that timeout, I felt like OK, the momentum is swinging in our direction,” Magic big man Jonathan Isaac said.
After winning the first two games of the series in Cleveland, advancing to the second round seemed like a sure thing. However, the Magic had other ideas, beating the Cavaliers two games in Orlando by a combined 61 points and the matchup now looks far more competitive and interesting.
The Cavaliers were particularly bad from the perimeter, shooting only 24 percent (4-for-17) from beyond the arc. That was the same percentage Cleveland shot on 3-pointers in Game 3, though specialist Sam Merrill knocked down three of his four attempts. Outside shooting has been their kryptonite through the series thus far.
During the offseason, Cleveland added Max Strus from the Miami Heat (career 37 percent 3-point shooter) and Georges Niang from the Philadelphia 76ers (40 percent) with the intent of vastly improving their outside shooting. But neither player could find the bottom of the ocean Saturday. Strus shot 1-for-3, scoring just seven points, while Niang went 0-for-1 and scored two points.
Jarrett Allen led Cleveland with 21 points and Donovan Mitchell added 18, all in the first half on 5-for-14 shooting from the field. Caris LeVert, who averaged 14 points per game during the regular season, scored only five and shot 0-for-3 from distance.
On the other side, Franz Wagner had his best game of the series for Orlando. The third-year forward had a massive double-double, scoring 34 points with 13 rebounds, shooting 13-for-17 from the field, and going 2-for-3 on three-pointers. Wagner had not scored more than 18 points in the series’ previous three games.
Isaac added 14 points for Orlando and provided the three-point boost Cleveland was yearning for, knocking down four of his six long-range attempts.
As a team, the Magic shot 46 percent (12-for-26) on their three-pointers and 56 percent overall (43-for-77) from the field.
“They held home court just like we did,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Now we get an opportunity to go home and play a best-of-three series with two games in Cleveland. We’ve got areas where we can change some things, fix some things, but I know our guys will be ready to go on Tuesday night.”
Game 5 of the Magic-Cavs goes back to Cleveland on Tuesday.
And…
Thunder Roll to 3-0 Series Lead Over Pelicans – The youth movement is here to stay. The Oklahoma City Thunder are just one win away from advancing to the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign, the Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook era.
MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had an all-around great game scoring 24 points with eight assists and five rebounds to lead the Thunder to a 106–85 win in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series with the New Orleans Pelicans. Oklahoma City takes a 3–0 strangle hold.
“It’s not over,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said of his message to the team. “Look, we’ve got another game here at home and we’re not going to fix all of our issues tonight. Go home, have a good meal and we’ll come back (Sunday) and practice and go over what we need to do and get ready for the next game.”
No team has ever rallied from a 3–0 series deficit to win an NBA playoff series.
Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams both added 21 points. Giddey also pulled down eight rebounds and dished out six dimes.
“Dub’s very talented,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Williams, who has averaged about 20 points in the series and scored 13 of his Game 3 points in the second half. “He was clearly big tonight, very impressive and nothing we’re not used to.”
Outstanding 3-point shooting propelled the Thunder to their landslide victory in the Bayou. Giddey went 4-for-7 from three-point range, while Lu Dort shot 4-for-8. Williams hit three of his four three-point attempts. As a team, the Thunder shot 47 percent (17-for-36) from the great beyond, providing a significant advantage over the Pelicans, who shot a dismal 31 percent (9-for-29) from three.
“We adjusted really well to the flow of the game. We got good looks,” Giddey said. “They threw a lot of different looks at us but we’ve got a lot of weapons on the floor at all times. So, guys made the right play, the extra pass.”
Brandon Ingram led the Pelicans with a quiet 19 points, his best outing of the series thus far despite Dort playing lockdown defense on him.
“We were ready to play,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “Our physicality again, our defense and focus on that end of the floor was really, really good, made them earn everything. And I thought that set the tone.”
However, Ingram did not provide the necessary scoring punch to make up for the absence of Zion Williamson, who has not yet appeared in the playoffs while he recovers from a hamstring injury suffered during the Pelicans’ first game of the play-in tournament against the Los Angeles Lakers. He will be reevaluated in the coming days.
Ingram is also working his way back from a knee injury that put him on the shelf for 12 games toward the end of the regular season.
C.J. McCollum added 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while Herb Jones scored 16 points.
Another glaring advantage the Thunder had was Chet Holmgren protecting the basket. The rookie had four blocks, which not only prevented New Orleans from scoring but energized Oklahoma City in transition.
Holmgren also collected eight rebounds and six points while stopping the Pelicans’ frontcourt from making much of an impact.
New Orleans coach Willie Green started Larry Nance Jr. at the five position to begin the second half, hoping that he could be a better matchup against Holmgren than Jonas Valanciunas, who only scored seven points. Nance did not fare much better, finishing with nine points.
The Thunder earned the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs, getting to the postseason for the first time in four years. Prior to this season, Oklahoma City had not gotten out of the first round in its previous four playoff appearances.
In 2015-16, the squad featuring Durant, Westbrook and Serge Ibaka advanced to the West finals, losing to the Golden State Warriors in seven games after enjoying a 3-1 lead.
Game 4 of the Thunder-Pelicans series is scheduled for Monday.
