Orlando Forces Game Seven vs. Cleveland, Dallas Dumps LAC
Only One Spot Left in the Second Round Brackets
Home favorites both won and covered Friday night. Orlando didn’t exactly sparkle, but forced a seventh game against Cleveland thanks to poor three-point shooting from the Cavs and a big free throw edge. Dallas took awhile to get going, but took care of business to force a second-round meeting with Oklahoma City.
Let’s run the numbers…
Orlando (-4) 103, Cleveland 96
2-point Pct: Cleveland 60%, Orlando 45%
3-pointers: Cleveland 7/28, (25%), Orlando 11/36 (31%)
Free Throws: Cleveland 5/10, Orlando 22/26
Rebounds: Cleveland 38, Orlando 48
Turnovers: Cleveland 13, Orlando 13
Estimated Pace: 98 possessions
Both teams wanted it. Cleveland wanted it by having Donovan Mitchell try to carry the Cavs on his shoulders…on the way to 50 points for him, but less than 100 for the team. Orlando wanted it by crashing the boards, including 15 on offense that extended possessions and created second chance points.
Neither team was great on treys. Orlando had a good first half, but was scattershot after that. Cleveland behind the arc in Orlando went 8/34 (24%), 4/17 (24%), and 7/28 (25%). Tough to win road games that way! Better, but not great at home either, 8/30 (27%), 12/39 (31%), and 13/37 (35%). (It would be VERY hard to hang with Boston in the next round with that many misfires from long range).
Free throw differential at least suggests the possibility for home cooking. Orlando has been better at attacking the basket and drawing fouls all series…but not in such dramatic fashion. First five games, Orlando had 12 more makes on 21 more attempts…tonight it was +17 on +16 all at once.
Really not a good sign for Orlando Friday night that the Magic needed to be +17 from the free throw line WHILE the Cavs were only shooting 7 of 28 on treys…just to win by seven points. And, not a good sign for Cleveland that one KEY guy had to exhaust himself less than 48 hours before a Game Seven decider. Makes that series finale a tough handicap…unless the Under looks appealing on game day after the usual G7 tinkering toward grinders.
Though, I guess several Cleveland guys won’t be that tired because they didn’t shoot much! Something for us to think about until Sunday morning. We’ll have a seventh game…but it will be one of the least-anticipated seventh games ever because nobody think the winner has a chance in the next round.