ORLANDO — Paolo Banchero scored 31 points and 14 rebounds and Jalen Suggs added 24 points to lift the Magic to a 121-83 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Kia Center on Thursday night.
After being blown out in Games 2 and 3 in Cleveland, the Magic have slice their best-of-7 series deficit to 1-2.
Franz Wagner contributed 16 points and eight assists for the Magic, who shot 51.1 perent from the field and led by as many as 43 points.
Game 4 is Saturday and while the Magic can square up the series, they’re not being complacent.
“Nobody’s partying. We know we have to do the same thing on Saturday. Obviously we’re proud of the win tonight. It is big for this group to get your first playoff win but we want the whole series,” Banchero said at his post-game press conference.
Cleveland’s All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell was held to 13 points on 6-for-16 shooting while Jarrett Allen had 15 points and eight rebounds. But the Cavaliers couldn’t overcome a rough shooting night where they went 39% from the field (32-of-82) and 23.5% from 3-point territory (8-of-34).
“We’ve got to find a way to score and it starts with me. You don’t get two wins for winning by more than 20, so you’ve got to keep it in that perspective,” Mitchell told reporters.
Caris LaVert led the Cleveland bench with 16 points and Evan Mobley tallied 10 but it wasn’t enough to supplement a stalled offense.
“It’s a lesson learned about the importance of the start of the game, and setting the tone,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said while pointing out Orlando’s 61-45 halftime surge.
