Wendell Carter Jr.’s return from a sprained left wrist Monday towards the Cleveland Cavaliers wasn’t sufficient to provide the Orlando Magic a victory to begin their temporary street journey.
The Magic fell to the Cavaliers 107-101 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to kick off their two-game street swing that’ll finish with a matchup towards the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
Carter completed with 15 factors, 12 rebounds and 6 assists in 27 minutes.
“He understands the sport so nicely and he’s prepared to work and make the blokes round him higher,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley mentioned of Carter forward of Monday’s sport. “He’s going to make the precise choice. You discuss concerning the assists and discovering issues in our movement units, however even in pick-and-rolls, he makes the precise selections.”
Franz Wagner completed with 10 factors (4 of 8), 6 assists and three rebounds. Cole Anthony had 11 factors (4 of 8) and 4 assists whereas Mo Bamba had 11 factors (4 of 6) and 4 rebounds.
The Magic, who scored 62 factors within the paint, held the Cavaliers to 40 paint factors.
Cleveland has been one of many league’s high paint-scoring groups even with All-Star massive man Jarrett Allen being sidelined since March 8 due to a fractured left finger.
“Popping out of the break, they’ve been actually good on [the defensive] finish of the ground,” Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff mentioned of the Magic, who entered Monday permitting 43.9 factors within the paint because the All-Star break for the league’s third-best mark. “Their understanding of how they’re utilizing their massive guys to guard the paint and each other has taken a giant step.”
Darius Garland (25 factors, 12 assists), Lauri Markkanen (20 factors) and Kevin Love (19 factors, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) led the Cavaliers, who dominated out Rookie of the Yr candidate Evan Mobley (6 factors, 3 rebounds) at halftime after he sprained his left ankle within the second quarter.
The Magic trailed 45-25 within the second after the Cavaliers opened the interval on an 18-3 run, however the lineup of Ignas Brazdeikis, Anthony, Wagner, Carter and Bamba acquired Orlando again within the sport and its deficit to 7 at halftime.
Brazdeikis completed with 13 factors (6 of 10), which tied a season-high, and 4 rebounds.
The Magic exchanged leads with the Cavaliers all through the second half, taking a 92-90 advantagewith 5:51 remaining with the assistance of their bench unit.
Regardless of the starters having a mixed plus/minus of 31, Orlando performed a lineup of Brazdeikis, Jeff Dowtin, Chuma Okeke, Admiral Schofield and Moe Wagner for the ultimate 9:50 and not one of the starters performed within the fourth.
“They acquired us again into it,” Mosley mentioned of the choice to shut out with the bench. “They'd an excellent run. The vitality was going; they'd an excellent momentum about them. I appeared on the 2:25 mark and I used to be fascinated by placing these different guys again in, however that group had finished an excellent job giving us the momentum going again and I didn’t wish to pull them out at that second.”
The Magic (20-56), who’ve been eradicated from playoff competition and entered Monday in a three-way tie for the league’s worst document together with the Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets, have extra incentive to lose than to win as a result of losses assist their lottery odds.
This text first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. E mail Khobi Worth at khprice@orlandosentinel.com or comply with him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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