CLEVELAND — Whether Donovan Mitchell’s long-term future with the Cavaliers is uncertain, the city is his oyster right now.
Mitchell, LeBron James’ successor in Cleveland in many ways, led the franchise to its first playoff victory without The King since 1993 in a 106-94 win over the Orlando Magic in Game 7 of their first round series.
Mitchell, coming off his 50 points in a Game 6 loss, wasn’t denied Sunday with 24 of his 39 points in the second half lulled by deafening “MVP” chants from a noisy, frothing crowd at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
The Cavs, who picked this side of the bracket by tanking the fourth quarter of the final regular season game to ensure they finished fourth and tied Orlando in the first round, will face the No. 1 Boston Celtics in Eastern Conference semifinals. .
The first game is Tuesday at TD Garden in Boston at 7 p.m.
Mitchell’s 89 points in Games 6 and 7 of a playoff series are the second-most points in NBA history, behind Allen Iverson’s 90.
Cleveland, winners of four straight Game 7s (dating back to Game 7 of the 2016 Finals), trailed by 18 in the first half and by 10 at halftime. Mitchell, who was just 3 of 13 in the first half, stormed out of the locker room to score 17 points in the third. His spurt through Jalen Suggs’ foul in the lane for a short jumper with 4:09 left in the third quarter tied the score at 64, and subjectively speaking, Cleveland’s arena may not have been so noisy after Mitchell’s game since all these finals take place with James.
DONOHIM MITCHELL, Ladies and gentlemen.@spidadmitchell | #Let them know pic.twitter.com/lY9B2YDXCY
– Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 5, 2024
Mitchell was not alone in the gathering, however. Max Strus, scoreless in the first half, scored 11 of his 13 points in the third — including a 3-pointer with 2:23 left in the third for a 71-68 lead that Cleveland never relinquished. Strus signed a four-year contract with the Miami Heat last summer to bolster the team’s outside shooting following Cleveland’s first-round playoff loss to the New York Knicks. He picked the right time to deliver on the promise the Cavs saw in him with those three 3s in the crucial third.
Paolo Banchero finishes a fantastic first playoff series, with 38 points and 16 rebounds. The 21-year-old became the youngest player to score more than 30 points in three games in the same playoff series.
Wendell Carter Jr., who started the series on the bench, added 13 points and Suggs finished with 10. Orlando shot 29 of 86 from the field and will lament letting a golden opportunity for advancement slip away.
No road team has won a game in this series. The Cavs led by nine at halftime in Game 4 and by five early in the fourth quarter of Game 6, but fell apart twice. Orlando’s second-quarter lead of nearly 20 seemed insurmountable, but the Magic couldn’t find any success. Franz Wagner and Suggs, Orlando’s best players alongside Banchero, shot a combined 3 of 28 in the seventh game.
The Magic, who by all accounts are ahead of schedule in building their schedule, remain winless in any playoff series since 2010.
Cleveland received 15 points from Caris LeVert, who struggled so much in Game 6 that he logged just seven minutes. Evan Mobley finished with 11 points and 16 rebounds as Cleveland’s lone big man. Darius Garland had a hard time shooting (3 of 13 overall), but his 3-point basket with 5:53 left in the fourth made it 88-77. Mitchell wrapped him in a hug after the shot, which put the game into timeout. Garland finished with 12 points.
Cavs center Jarrett Allen (rib contusion) has not played in the last three games of this series. He was averaging 17 points and nearly 14 rebounds before an elbow from Wagner in Game 4 “punctured” a rib on his right side, team sources said, leaving his status for Game 1 Tuesday in question.
For Cleveland, “questionable” is a lot better than the end of the season. For a while on Sunday, it was headed that way.
This story will be updated.
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(Photo: Ken Blaze / USA Today)