Orlando Magic to Host Cleveland Cavaliers for Game 3 of the NBA Playoffs at 7 p.m.

orlando has 29-12 record at home this season

(NBA.COM) – The Cleveland Cavaliers bid to push the Magic to the brink of elimination on Thursday night when they play Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round series in Orlando.

Donovan Mitchell paced the fourth-seeded Cavaliers to a pair of victories in Cleveland to begin the best-of-seven series. The five-time All-Star scored 30 points in the Cavaliers’ 97-83 win over the fifth-seeded Magic in the series opener on Saturday and 23 in a 96-86 victory on Monday.

“I think there’s a level that we can continue to improve at,” Mitchell said. “It’s great we got the win and we’re up 2-0. But we’re not looking to be up 2-0. We’re looking to be perfect. There’s no such thing as perfection, but you continuously want to chase it.”

Orlando, which posted a 29-12 record at home this season, is hosting its first playoff game since April 21, 2019. The notion of seeing his team play in front of what he expects to be a boisterous crowd wasn’t lost on Magic coach Jamahl Mosley.

“It’s going to be great to be back at home, in front of our fans,” Mosley said. “That energy. That intensity. That’s something that we’ll be looking forward to. Take care of homecourt.”

To do that, Orlando likely would benefit from a faster start. The Magic have fallen behind by the end of the first quarter in 13 of their last 15 games dating to the regular season.

“And now you’re climbing uphill the rest of the way,” Mosley said. “You can play them even all you want the rest of the way, but we have to do a better job of coming out with an intensity and a fight to hit from the beginning.”

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