At approximately 2:00 p.m. on Sunday the 2023-2024 Cleveland Cavaliers looked to be finished.
At this moment in time, the Cavaliers trailed the Orlando Magic by 17 in a decisive Game 7 against the Orlando Magic at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Cavaliers guard Darius Garland probed the lane with his dribble, found a somewhat open Evan Mobley with a pass. The ball squirted through Mobley’s hands and trickled out of bounds.
It was a perfect summarization of what went wrong to that point. Garland had been playing poorly, Mobley looked unprepared offensively, as he had at times throughout the series. Reasons for optimism were fleeting and the home crowd seemed too shocked to let out anything more than a chorus of boos while begging for any reason to hope.
The team looked unprepared on Sunday afternoon. Not just for the basketball game, but the pressure-packed moment that accompanied the afternoon. Until they didn’t.
The Cavs trailed Orlando 49-31 with 4:17 remaining until halftime. The rest of the way, the Cavs outscored the Magic 75-45 thanks to a herculean effort from guard Donovan Mitchell, and key contributions from role players Isaac Okoro, Caris LeVert, Max Strus and Sam Merrill.
That 18-point comeback was the largest ever in a Game 7 in NBA history. For a team that has been critiqued as soft, the final 28 minutes of the game was watching them grow up right before your eyes. It was a stunning maturation caused by absolute necessity.
Donovan Mitchell, Superstar
What Mitchell did on Sunday afternoon was special. He scored 17 of his 39 points in the third quarter, as the Cavs outscored Orlando 32-15 to take control of the game. This follows a Game 6 in which he scored 50 points, the second-most ever scored in a playoff game by a member of the Cavs. There has been only one instance in NBA history in which a player scored more points combined in Games 6 and 7 of a series than Mitchell’s 89 combined in this series. That was Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson back in 2001.
“He’s competitive, he’s a real go-getter. It’s crazy to even hear [Mitchell’s stat line] come out of your mouth,” Garland says. “He’s a winner. This is all he talks about.”
Mitchell clearly has been dealing with physical issues during this postseason. There were times during Game 6 on Friday night when he looked to avoid putting too much pressure on his left leg. Yet he’s done his best to drag this team to the next round of the playoffs. Mitchell has been nothing short of a superstar since the Cavs traded for him in September of 2022. While trading for him set the organizational bar higher than just advancing out of the first round, Mitchell proved this week that he’s more than capable of carrying a team in the playoffs.
“I'm tired of losing the first round,” Mitchell says.
In each of the last two seasons, one in Cleveland and one in Utah, Mitchell’s teams had early exits from the postseason. For his status as one of the best players in the NBA, the performance he put on Sunday was important. Losing in the first round in three straight postseasons should be unacceptable for a player of Mitchell’s caliber. He did everything he could to ensure that wouldn’t be the case.
“He's the guy that can pull everybody along, not just with his skill, but in spirit as well,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff says.
That’s the perfect way to describe an NBA superstar, and it’s the perfect way to describe what Mitchell has been for Cleveland.
The other guys
The “plus/minus” stat is one that often fails to tell the whole story. At times, players can be the victim or beneficiary of what their teammates do. That’s not what Sunday was for Okoro. He played 33 minutes in Game 7 and the Cavs outscored Orlando by 24 points in that time. Despite only scoring eight points and missing both of his attempts from 3-point range, Okoro’s impact could easily be felt on things that don’t show up in the box score. He was a thorn in the side of Orlando on defense, spending time hounding both Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Anything the Cavs needed, Okoro was able to do.
Similar can be said for Strus, although his trio of 3-pointers can be more easily seen than many of the things Okoro did. With the Cavs down by 10 early in the third quarter, Strus hit a 3-pointer that started a run. With the score then tied at 68, Strus connected on 3-pointers on consecutive trips down the floor and the Cavs never looked back. When it’s said that role players can swing a game, that sort of stretch is the blueprint.
Prior to Sunday, the last Game 7 the Cavaliers played in as an organization was against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2018. The game is remembered for a masterful performance put on by LeBron James, willing the Cavaliers to an 87-79 victory. James played all 48 minutes of that game, scoring 35 points, collecting 15 rebounds and dished out nine assists. That’s what it should be remembered for.
But a big reason why that game was won by the Cavaliers was the play of NBA journeyman Jeff Green. Green spent one season in Cleveland and there aren’t many memories created from his time year during that turbulent season at the end of James’ second run in town. That afternoon in Boston, Green had 19 points in 42 minutes. It’s not what gets remembered, but it was vital to a winning effort.
Against the Magic, Caris LeVert had his Jeff Green moment.
LeVert, who had a rather poor series entering Sunday, finished with 15 points on nine attempts from the field, five rebounds and four assists in just a shade under 30 minutes. The Cavaliers desperately needed a creator other than Mitchell to step up and help carry the load. With Garland both in foul trouble and playing poorly for the first three quarters, LeVert answered that bell.
This game will, and should, be remembered for the play of Mitchell, but it’s a game the Cavaliers don’t win without LeVert.
What’s next
This win against Orlando marks the first time the Cavaliers have advanced in the postseason since 2018. It’s also the first time they have won a playoff series without LeBron James on the roster since defeating the then-New Jersey Nets in 1993, more than 30 years ago.
This postseason series victory doesn’t solve everything. It doesn’t mean that there won’t or shouldn’t be changes ahead, but it represents an opportunity to feel good, even if it’s just for a moment.
Now, the Cavaliers travel to Boston to take on the Celtics. Boston dismissed the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs in a swift five games, with the game they lost to the Heat mostly due to shooting variance. The Celtics are the top overall seed in the NBA, as they finished the regular season with a league-best record of 64-18. The two teams met three times this year, twice in Boston and once in Cleveland, with the home team winning each game.
Game 1 is set for Tuesday night in Boston. The first game in Cleveland will be Game 3, next Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
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