ORLANDO Magic achieved a 121-83 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Region playoffs at the Kia Center Orlando Florida, Friday (26/4) WIB.
Magic gave the Cavaliers their worst defeat in the playoffs with a deficit of up to 38 points, while reducing their deficit to 2-1 in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
Magic even has a chance to equalize the score at 2-2 because they will still be playing at home in Game 4, which will be held on Sunday (28/4).
“No one is allowed to party,” said Magic star Paolo Banchero as quoted on the NBA’s official website.
“We know we have to do the same thing in the next match. Obviously we are proud of this win. This is a big thing for our group, getting a win in the playoffs, but we want to win the series,” he continued.
Banchero scored 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. He didn’t even make a single mistake during the 29 minutes he played on the field, after being the cause of 14 of his team’s turnovers in the previous two matches.
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Jalen Suggs added 24 points and Franz Wagner contributed 16 points for the Magic.
On the Cavaliers side, Jarrett Allen scored 15 points, which was the highest for his team.
Caris LeVert also recorded 15 points, while their star player Donovan Mitchell only had 13 points.
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The Cavaliers only had a shooting accuracy of 39% from open play and even just 23.5% from three-point range.
The Cavaliers’ worst loss in the playoffs occurred on April 24, 2008, when they were defeated by 36 points against the Washington Wizards.
Mitchell, who was not at his best tonight, has not closed his eyes to the end of his team’s journey. According to him, they have only lost once to Magic and there are still two to four matches left.
“You don’t get two wins by winning by more than 20 points, so it has to be seen from that perspective. But in the end we could have lost by more than 20 or 40, that doesn’t matter, it’s still just one win,” stressed Mitchell. (Ant/Z-1)
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