ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson thought about leaving some of his mainstays back in Cleveland. But he didn\u2019t want to risk halting the team\u2019s momentum. <\/p>\n
It was the right call. <\/p>\n
The surging Cavaliers topped the Orlando Magic, 119-105, on Saturday night inside the Kia Center. Cleveland has won five of its last six games \u2014 a recent awakening that has vaulted them up the Eastern Conference standings. Orlando has now lost three straight \u2014 its longest losing skid since late October. <\/p>\n
\u201cTrust your roster. Trust your bench. I felt like tonight was one of those nights where we had to play everybody,\u201d Atkinson said following the victory. \u201cDefinitely fatigued. We just kept rotating guys and our young guys continue to impress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re playing better, but we still have a lot of games to make up ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing the second game of a back-to-back, after arriving in Orlando around 3 a.m., in the midst of a three-in-four-night stretch, with Northeast Ohio bracing for a snowstorm that might impact the return flight, Saturday had the makings of a proverbial trap game. <\/p>\n
Instead, it was a continuation of this Cavs\u2019 turnaround, finally looking like the team so many expected at the start of the season when they were pegged as conference co-favorites.<\/p>\n
And they are still don\u2019t have three rotational regulars \u2014 Darius Garland (right toe sprain), Sam Merrill (sprained right hand) and Max Strus (foot surgery). <\/p>\n
After leading by two after a competitive opening quarter that had nine lead changes and eight ties, the Cavs opened the second on a 6-0 spurt, with energetic two-way forward Nae\u2019Qwan Tomlin canning two triples. <\/p>\n
But the Magic kept battling, pulling back even four more times, before the Cavs took the lead \u2014 for good \u2014 at the 5:55 mark of the second quarter. <\/p>\n
Eventually, Cleveland extended that edge to nine with star guard and leading scorer Donovan Mitchell on the bench, while also using a lineup that hadn\u2019t played at all before Saturday \u2014 a pivotal moment that showcased the team\u2019s rapid growth.<\/p>\n
By the end of the first half, it was a seven-point advantage, as it held the offensively challenged Magic, who entered the night ranked 19th at that end of the floor, to just 48 points on 37.5% from the field and 20% from 3-point range. <\/p>\n
The Magic only got as close as four in the second half, as the Cavs built their lead to a game-high 18 at one point and then held off Orlando\u2019s fourth-quarter push with surgical execution and brilliant shot-making. <\/p>\n
Mitchell, playing in front of MLB ace and good buddy Jacob deGrom, was at the forefront of that. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point the ball was going to go in,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cEarlier in the season and throughout the season we have been letting the offense, if it\u2019s not successful, dictate our defense. We haven\u2019t done that lately. It\u2019s a consistent effort, consistent force.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell, who is hoping to be named an All-Star reserve this coming week, finished with a game-high 36 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, on 15 of 30 shooting and 2 of 8 from 3-point range to go with nine assists and five rebounds in 38 spectacular minutes. <\/p>\n
He even played every second in the fourth \u2014 a departure from his usual rotation. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe usually get him out in the fourth quarter but felt like the game was in the balance. That was a good call by the coach,\u201d Atkinson said with a chuckle. \u201cWe just had to ride him. He was great at both ends. Made others better. Then, obviously, the shot-making was insane.\u201d<\/p>\n
Second-year swingman Jaylon Tyson added 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. Evan Mobley had 13 points. Rookie Tyrese Proctor chipped in with 12 off the bench, hitting all four of his shot attempts. Dean Wade (10 points) also reached double figures. <\/p>\n
Orlando, which was once again without Franz Wagner, got a team-high 27 from Paolo Banchero. Offseason pickup Desmond Bane added 20 points while fill-in starter Anthony Black finished with 16. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing it by committee,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cWe are celebrating our depth. It feels like a collective effort. It\u2019s contagious. I saw some of the old Cavs basketball from last season.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago, Atkinson said his team was too good not to catch a wave. He could sense it coming soon. <\/p>\n
The Cavs are riding it now. Right up the standings. <\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
The Cavs will return home for a matchup with the Magic on Monday night. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson thought about leaving some of his mainstays back in Cleveland. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-436862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}