Last Tuesday night in Cleveland Ohio the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic met for game 5 of their opening round NBA playoff series. The Cavaliers handily defeated the Orlando Magic in the first two games of this series in Cleveland. However, the following 2 games in Orlando went much differently. The Magic dominated the Cavs on their homecourt in games 3 and 4 of this series. The question going into this game was which will hold true? Will the home team continue to win at home or will Orlando continue with their momentum. The Cavaliers were without C Jarrett Allen due to a rib injury. 34-year-old Marcus Morris Sr. gave the Cavs quality minutes in his place.

The Cavs went into halftime with a 48-47 lead, this was after giving Orlando an 8-0 run in the last 3 minutes of the 2nd quarter. Darius Garland led the Cavs in first half scoring with 17 points. The pure physicality of the first half continued through the rest of the game and it was expected. The Cavs held on to a 75-70 lead at the end of the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter was a back-and-forth dog fight. Everyone watching the game knew that the game would come down to the final possession, and it did. Evan Mobley had a huge shot block of Orlando’s Franz Wagner with three seconds left in the game preserving the Cavs game 5 win.  Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 28 points in 40 minutes.

Game 6 of this series is now scheduled for Friday May 3rd in Orlando. The Cavs can close the series on the road. A victory can secure the first Cavs playoff series win without Lebron James since 1993. If they can’t close out this playoff series on the road Friday.  Game 7 will be played in Cleveland on Sunday May 5th. And Cleveland Cavaliers fans will have to show up and be loud while on pins and needles.