Last Monday night in Cleveland Ohio, the Cleveland Cavaliers won game 2 of their best of seven opening round playoff series against the Orlando Magic by the score of 96-86 and taking a 2-0 series lead. The Cavaliers dominated the Magic by defeating them 97-83 in last Saturday afternoons game 1 of the series. The playoff intensity and tenacity were lacking last year against the New York Knicks. This year it was clear evident for the first two games of this series that the Cavaliers learned from last year’s disappointing first round playoff exit.

The Cavaliers defense showed up for the second consecutive playoff game. They held the Orlando Magic to 83 points in Game 1 and 86 points in game 2. The Magic had a game 1 field goal percentage of 32.6%. Their game 2 field goal percentage was 35.8%. Even more impressive was Cavaliers C Jarrett Allen’s 20 rebounds in the game. PG Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers in scoring with 23 points in 36 minutes. It is good for the Cavaliers to have him back healthy. Even more interesting in the first two games of this series the Cleveland Cavaliers have yet to trail the Orlando Magic. The Cleveland Cavaliers had the lead in the entire 96 minutes of this series.

The Cavaliers are the better team in this series. This team could take care of business in Orlando the next two games and sweep the Magic. But I believe the Orlando Magic is a good young team that plays with high energy and intensity. The best-case scenario for the Cavaliers is to split the next two games in Orlando. And come home for game 5 with a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Game 3 is scheduled for Thursday night April 25th at 7:00 PM EST in Orlando Florida. Will the home court advantage for this game help the Magic? We will have to watch and see if it matters. Because the Cavaliers need to do what championship caliber teams do in the NBA playoffs. Those teams don’t mess around with inferior teams and advance in the playoffs. We will find out the caliber of the Cleveland Cavaliers when they play on the road in the NBA playoffs.