Cavaliers, Magic Open 2024 NBA Playoffs On Saturday
The Cleveland Cavaliers will host the Orlando Magic in Game 1 of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on Saturday afternoon at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The Cavaliers (48-34) finished in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings in the regular season and will open the postseason at home. They aim to improve over a woeful playoff showing 12 months ago. There’s no question that the Cavaliers will only go as far as the play of Donovan Mitchell will carry them. The star guard averaged 26.6 points per game during the regular season and will be Cleveland’s go-to player on offense, but the contributions of the other members of their “Big Four” won’t go unnoticed. Evan Mobley will have to deal with Paolo Banchero, Darius Garland (6.5 assists per game) will operate as the primary playmaker, and Jarrett Allen (16.5 points, 10.5 rebounds per game) will be a two-way force down low. The Cavaliers have home-field advantage for this series, and they were one of the best teams in the league at home during the regular season thanks to a 26-15 record.

The Cavaliers are listing Ty Jerome (ankle), Dean Wade (knee) and Craig Porter (ankle) in their injury report for the series opener Saturday.

The Magic (47-35) finished the regular season in fifth place in the standings. Even if they suffer a first-round exit, this season can be a massive success for an organization that picked near the top of the NBA Draft only a few years ago. The addition of Paolo Banchero, a second-year player who received his first All-Star nod this season, changed everything for the Magic, and now they have a young team that looks to contend for years to come in a surprisingly top-heavy East. The Magic will only go as far as Banchero can carry them, however. The forward led the team in both points (22.6) and assists (5.4) per game while tying for first in rebounds with Wendell Carter Jr. (6.9). Franz Wagner (19.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists per game) is another player to watch for in the series. Unfortunately, Orlando doesn’t have a lot of offensive weapons to unsettle Cleveland. The Magic will have to pull the upset by playing sound defense and limiting Donovan Mitchell as much as possible.

The Magic are not listing any player in their injury report for the series opener Saturday.
Posted on: 4/19/2024 7:15 PM