Cavaliers, Magic gear up for 'finest two phrases in sports activities': Recreation 7 – NBA.com

Cleveland and Orlando's first-round battle comes down to at least one final winner-take-all contest.
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Donovan Mitchell’s 50-point outburst in Recreation 6 wasn’t sufficient to avert the 149th Recreation 7 in NBA historical past.
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CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell pushed himself to his bodily limits, leaving all the things he had on the ground whereas attempting to shut out the precocious Orlando Magic.
Cleveland’s star got here up brief. He will get one other shot.
Yet another. Recreation 7.
“Greatest two phrases in sports activities,” Mitchell mentioned late Friday evening.
Unable to discover a technique to win on the highway, the Cavs and Magic will settle their series on Sunday (1 ET, ABC) in a becoming winner-take-all finale between two groups which have put their strengths and weaknesses on public show for six video games.
Just one advances to face the Boston Celtics, the beasts of the Jap Convention who might be well-rested for whichever staff escapes this Cavs-Magic stalemate.
For Mitchell, who scored 50 factors — together with Cleveland’s ultimate 22 and all 18 within the fourth quarter — throughout his virtuoso efficiency in Friday evening’s 103-96 loss in Game 6, all the things that has occurred previous to that is virtually meaningless, an prolonged opening act.
“All of the stuff you’ve carried out for six video games actually goes out the window. It’s all about desperation and can,” he mentioned. “How do we discover methods to repeatedly be relentless. I’ve little doubt that we’ll present up. I’ve little doubt Cleveland will present up.”
It will assist Mitchell if a number of extra of his teammates confirmed up.
He was just about alone for lengthy stretches in Recreation 6 whereas attempting to push the Cavs throughout the end line and win a playoff sequence with out LeBron James for the primary time since 1993.
Mitchell did it on a cranky left knee that flared up all through the second half, however barely slowed him. However whereas he did his half and backcourt mate Darius Garland added 21 factors, the remainder of Cleveland’s lineup, which was lacking heart Jarrett Allen attributable to a rib harm, contributed solely 25 on 10-of-33 capturing.
Cavs ahead Evan Mobley, whose block on Franz Wagner within the ultimate seconds sealed Cleveland’s one-point win in Game 5, scored simply three factors on 5 pictures and struggled after rolling his ankle within the first half.
Mobley was noticeably limping after the sport.
The Magic capitalized on the Cavs’ frontline shortcomings and dominated inside, outscoring Cleveland 66-38 within the paint and profitable the rebound battle 48-38. Enjoying with customary aggression, Orlando additionally loved a disparity on the free-throw line with 26 makes an attempt to Cleveland’s 10 — a niche prone to shrink on the highway.
And whereas a lot of that is new to the Magic, who received simply 22 video games two years in the past and 34 final yr, there’s a quiet confidence in a younger staff being compelled to develop up shortly.
The stage hasn’t overwhelmed Orlando thus far, and coach Jamahl Mosley believes his staff is able to face the last word win-or-else state of affairs.
“These guys keep in mind what received them right here,” Mosley mentioned. “Clearly, they do perceive the magnitude. However we’ve additionally been the identical staff all yr, the way in which by which we play, what we’ve referred to as for and requested them to do — play with a way of urgency each single evening, play exhausting each single evening, play for one another each single evening, defend at a excessive clip.
“It doesn’t change, it doesn’t matter what the sport.”
That actually appears to be the case for Magic ahead Paolo Banchero, who scored 39 in Recreation 5, 27 in Recreation 6 and is averaging 25.2 factors in his first playoff sequence.
The 21-year-old has been seemingly unfazed by the highlight, which is about to get brighter and hotter than something he and his teammates have skilled.
Banchero is assured the Magic received’t shrink.
“No person actually believed in us a pair years in the past and final yr, however we believed in one another and that’s all we’d inform one another, that we all know what we have been able to as a gaggle,” he mentioned. “The truth that we’re doing it’s superior.”
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Sunday's Recreation 7 marks the third straight contest within the sequence Allen has been compelled to overlook with harm.
Edwards' playoff career-high 43 powers the Wolves to an emphatic Recreation 1 win. Subsequent up: Cavs-Magic Recreation 7 at present on ABC at 1 p.m. ET.

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