Magic even series with shellacking of Cavaliers

The Orlando Magic emphatically evened their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series with the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers, using a third-quarter flurry to erase a halftime deficit and steamroll toward a 112-89 shellacking in Game 4 on Saturday, April 27 (Sunday, April 28, Manila time).

Franz Wagner had 12 of his game-high 34 points and three teammates chipped in with a combined five three-pointers in the run, which turned a 60-51 Cavaliers advantage at the break into an 88-70 Magic romp by third quarter’s end thanks to a 37-10 Orlando run.

Game 5 in a series dominated by the home team is scheduled for Tuesday at Cleveland.

“I thought our defense was the key to the second half,” Wagner said. “They didn’t even score 30 points in the second half. Shout out to the whole team and hopefully we can do that in Cleveland as well.”

Donovan Mitchell had 18 points and teammates Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley combined for 28 while missing just three shots in a first half in which Cleveland led by as many as 10.

But Mitchell never scored again. In fact, the Cavaliers only made five field goals in the entire third quarter, when they added just 10 points to the 60 they had before halftime.

Meanwhile, the Magic made six three-pointers in the third period, with Jalen Suggs and Wendell Carter Jr. drilling two apiece, and Wagner and Jonathan Isaac notching one each in the runaway.

Orlando went on to lead by as many as 30 in the fourth quarter before coasting home.

“We just stayed with it, our defensive focus,” Isaac said. “We just need two, three minutes of consistent stops and we can blow the top off the game.”

Isaac finished with 14 points, Suggs and Markelle Fultz 12 apiece, and Carter 11 for the Magic, who shot 55.8% for the game and 46.2% on three-pointers.

Wagner completed a double-double with a game-high 13 rebounds, while Paolo Banchero had a team-high 5 assists to go with 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

Allen paced the Cavaliers with 21 points, while also finding time for a team-high-tying 9 rebounds.

“We found something in the second quarter that worked,” Cavaliers head coach JB Bickerstaff said. “We were extremely aggressive, got to the basket. In the third quarter, we didn’t get to those same spots. We didn’t play with the same tempo.”

Mobley also had 9 boards to go with 14 points, and Darius Garland added 14 points while tying Mitchell for team-high assist honors with 6.

The Cavaliers finished 4-for-17 on three-pointers, with Mitchell going just 1-for-4. The visitors were outscored 36-12 from beyond the arc.

“It’s a best-of-three series (now) and we’ve got two games in Cleveland,” Bickerstaff said. “Our responsibility is take the next game as it comes, be ready to go on Tuesday. We have some things we need to correct.” – Rappler.com