With his father on hand for support, Donovan ‘Spider’ Mitchell put on a show once again and the Cleveland Cavaliers are on their way to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
“This is why I’m here,” he said. “It’s my job.”
Mitchell may not have scored 50 points, as he did in Friday’s Game 6 loss, 103-96, but he scored 39 points in Sunday afternoon’s win-or-go-home Game 7, in which the Cavaliers were victorious, 106–94, over the up-and-coming Orlando Magic. Cleveland won the first-round playoff series 4–3.
“That’s what special players do when it matters most,” Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He was special when he needed to be.”
According to the NBA, Cleveland’s comeback is the largest in a Game 7 since the league began tracking play-by-play in 1997-98.
“I don’t mean this disrespectful, but it doesn’t really mean much,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t come in just to win the first round. We accomplished one goal, now we have to do it again. That’s the mindset.”
Early on in Sunday’s contest, Mitchell was tasked with carrying the lion’s share of the scoring load. Yet for the second consecutive game, he put the Cavaliers on his shoulders. Even with Jalen Suggs attempting to put him in a straight jacket, playing suffocating defense on him, Mitchell did not let it deter him and put together another superstar performance. In the first half, Mitchell shot a subpar 3-for-13 for 15 points. But to start the second, he attacked Suggs with everything he had to score 17 in the third and engineer a comeback.
Caris LeVert shot himself out of his funk, adding 15 points off the bench for the Cavaliers with Max Strus scoring 13 after collecting three fouls in the first half and Darius Garland getting 12, giving Mitchell more support than he received in Friday’s loss. Evan Mobley spearheaded the defensive charge with 16 boards and five blocks.
Jarrett Allen was forced to sit out his third consecutive game with a bruised rib and the Cavaliers continued to miss his rebounding prowess and shot-blocking talents near the basket.
Homecourt advantage made all the difference in this matchup. The home team won each game of the series. The Magic appeared to be taking control after blowing the Cavaliers out in Games 3 and 4. And in Game 6, the Cavs could not even reach the 100 mark, despite Mitchell’s 50 points.
Cleveland looked like a team with nothing left in the tank, falling behind by 18 points in the second quarter. However, they trimmed the deficit to 10 points, 53–43, at halftime and stormed back furiously to take the lead at the midway point in the third. The Cavaliers outscored the Magic, 33–15, in the third quarter to take a 76–68 advantage into the fourth.
Perimeter shooting continued to plague the Cavaliers in the first half. They shot a putrid 2-for-11 (17.8%) from behind the arc with Sam Merrill knocking down both of them.
Embed from Getty ImagesHowever, Strus hit two 3-pointers to snap Cleveland’s long-range struggles and help the rally effort. And a three from Garland gave the Cavs their biggest lead at eleven, 88–77, with just under six minutes remaining in the game.
If Paolo Banchero had not already arrived as an NBA star, he tried to announce his presence in his first playoff Game 7 with the Magic’s season hanging in the balance.
As sports commentator Stephen A. Smith articulated during ESPN’s halftime show, “The brother is big-time.” Banchero, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft out of Duke, scored 38 points with 16 rebounds and three steals in a losing effort. This time, he was the one who did not get enough help from his supporting cast.
Banchero only scored four points in the third quarter, shooting 1-for-7 with defensive specialist Isaac Okoro checking him. Banchero’s slowdown was the factor in Cleveland’s comeback.
“After the first game, people were like, I don’t know if they’re ready,” Banchero said. “To come back the way we did, it shows where we’re headed and shows what we’re able to do.”
Wendell Carter Jr. had 13 points and Suggs added 10, but no other Magic player scored in double figures. That included Franz Wagner, who scored double-digit points in each of the previous six games of the series, highlighted by 34 in Game 4 and 26 in Game 6. Wagner picked the worst time to have a bad day, scoring only six points, shooting 1-for-15 from the field and 0-for-5 from distance.
For the Cavaliers, the playoff series win is the first for the team since the 2017-18 season. That squad, led by LeBron James, advanced to the NBA Finals where they were swept by Steph and the Golden State Warriors.
Once the outcome was clearly decided, fans in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse began to chant “We want Boston!” As lead play-by-play announcer Mike Breen explained on the ESPN broadcast, Mitchell tried to quiet down talk of the Cavs’ next opponent until the game was over. But now, Cleveland will face the No. 1 seed Boston Celtics, who finished with the NBA’s best record at 64–18.
Game 1 of the Cavaliers-Celtics second-round series is scheduled for Tuesday at TD Garden. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. ET with the telecast on TNT.
