The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
What a difference a year makes
It is pretty cool when players on a team spend an entire week talking about their game plan for a playoff series and then watch them play exactly as they said they would.
The Cavaliers have broken the will of the Magic. They won Game 1 of the best-ofseven series, 97-83, on April 20 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and then made the Magic disappear again, 96-86, April 22 in Game 2 at the FieldHouse.
“It starts with our defense,” Coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after Game 2. “I thought we did a great job of forcing them to the shots we wanted. We conceded nothing. That’s one of our messages. Very few of the shots they took weren’t contested and the majority of them were highly contested.”
The series moves to Orlando for Games 3 and 4 on April 25 and 27. It will shift back to the FieldHouse on April 30 if a fifth game is necessary. In the unlikely event of a water landing — I mean in the unlikely event of Game 6, it would be played May 3 in Orlando. Game 7 would be in Cleveland on May 5.
The Cavaliers went into the series determined to show they would not cower if the Magic tried to turn the series into a game of human bumper cars. Not only did the Cavs do that in Game 2. They proved to be the more physical team.
Bodies were flying around until the very end. Cavs guard Darius Garland and Magic guard Jalen Suggs collided near the sideline opposite the team benches in the fourth quarter. Garland was temporarily dazed but finished the game.
Orlando backup center Moritz Wagner fouled out in the fourth quarter. His frustration was palpable. The FieldHouse crowd loved it.
The Cavs led from start to finish for the second straight game. They led, 30-18, after one quarter.