NBA: Cavaliers roll past Magic despite sitting starters
Danny Green. Photo from Cleveland Cavaliers’ Twitter
Danny Green came off the bench to score 21 points, Cedi Osman finished with 19 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled over the host Orlando Magic 118-94 in a matchup of patchwork lineups on Thursday.
Cleveland (51-30) played without Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert. A much different Cavaliers rotation than the version that outlasted Orlando in a back-and-forth affair on Tuesday took command midway through the second quarter of Thursday’s contest.
Article continues after this advertisementCleveland outscored the Magic 18-7 over the final 5:05 of the first half, then carried that run over into the third quarter. The Cavaliers scored the first 10 points after intermission, building a big lead that held steady throughout the second half.
Danny GREEN 💵💵💵#LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/HrxVT0Tl1y
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) April 7, 2023
Orlando (34-46) played its own makeshift lineup with Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr., Markelle Fultz and Gary Harris all out of the starting five. Leading reserve scorer, Cole Anthony, also missed Thursday’s game.
Article continues after this advertisementJalen Suggs picked up the scoring slack with a game-high 22 points, Bol Bol added 18 points and a game-high-tying eight rebounds and Jay Scrubb came off the bench to notch 11 points. No other Orlando scorer finished with more than Moritz Wagner’s nine.
The Magic struggled through a woeful 33-of-83 shooting performance, an overall effort dragged down by an 11-of-41 second half.
Cleveland, meanwhile, finished with five players scoring in double figures. Isaiah Mobley scored a career-best 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor and matched his career-high with four rebounds.
Mamadi Diakite and Lamar Stevens each added 13 points in the romp.
The Cavaliers shot 46-of-88 from the floor, including 18-of-38 from behind the 3-point line. Green’s 5-of-9 and Osman’s 4-of-6 from long range set the pace.
Cleveland pushed the lead to as many as 33 points in the fourth quarter, rolling to its 51st win — the franchise’s most since 2016-17. Another victory in the regular-season finale Sunday against Charlotte would give the Cavaliers their best regular-season finish since the NBA Finals-winning 2015-16 campaign.
