2024 NBA Playoffs - East 1st Round: #4 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #5 Orlando Magic (CLE WINS 4-3)

[ForeverTFC]

Could the Celtics show up drunk and high and beat either one of these teams in a series? It's arguable.

Easiest path to the finals of my life time. That team has no excuse if they don’t win the title this year.

[Magic-man4609]

Cavs thought they were gonna leave Orlando without us???? NAHHH. There’s enough room on the plane for both squads!

[basketballRob]

Orlando should close it out on Sunday.

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[jkvonny]

Great game! Nice series.

Good rally from the young Magic to win at the end.
The winners have all been the the home team so far.

On to game 7 at Cleveland.

Cavs trying to win a playoff series first time since 2018 (lost NBA Finals to GSW, 4-0).
Magic trying to win a playoff series first time since 2010 (Lost ECF to the Celtics, 4-2).

[Residual-Heat]

This series is whoever wins gets swept by Boston. Both of these teams have major flaws.

Magic would win a game or 2. They went 2-2 in the regular season.

Edit: they went 1-2, but in the last two season are 3-4. Theyve had some success against them.

[tmorgan]

I honestly think Boston would rather play Cleveland. They’ll very likely beat either team in 5 games or less, but the Cavs guard-heavy offense plays right into the Celts best defenders, and makes the absence of Porzingis hurt less.

Orlando will make the B’s work harder, even if the team isn’t anywhere near experienced or efficient enough to actually win the series.

[SOUL]

Can we agree that this is at least an ESPN2 level series?? Upgraded from NBATV

[JXL]

This series is whoever wins gets swept by Boston. Both of these teams have major flaws.

Just curious with Porzingis confirmed out for the entire 2nd round, do you still think Celtics will sweep either Magic/Cavs?

Yes. Mobley isn't that good on offense yet, despite being a really good defender, you think he can guard Tatum straight up??

[SOUL]

This series is whoever wins gets swept by Boston. Both of these teams have major flaws.

Magic would win a game or 2. They went 2-2 in the regular season.

We went 1-2 this year but went 3-1 last year. But they also have a way better team.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Great game! Nice series.

Good rally from the young Magic to win at the end.
The winners have all been the the home team so far.

On to game 7 at Cleveland.

Cavs trying to win a playoff series first time since 2018 (lost NBA Finals to GSW, 4-0).
Magic trying to win a playoff series first time since 2010 (Lost ECF to the Celtics, 4-2).

We need the win more than the Cavs do lol.

[Funcrusher]

I’ll be in the minority not being a big fan of Mitchell. He really is an incredible individual player. Not sure you win big with him as your leader.

Just watched what, 7 straight possessions where he didn’t even consider passing to a teammate except for one of them where he was totally stuck in the air and turned it over.

Yes, he’s cooking, but when you shoot more than the rest of the starting lineup and freeze out the entire rest of your team…I just don’t see his style working on a serious winner. Unless you can pair him with Joker, or healthy Embiid/Giannis.

Man, who the hell is Mitchell supposed to pass too?

[cgf]

Clippers should court the heck out of him. He’s almost certainly going to decline his team option in 2 summers.

Miami is the team that scares me most as a potential Spida destination. If they turned Herro, JJJ, and their picks into Spida that team would be major contenders.

Mitchell/Bam/Butler is going nowhere. Sorry. Not good enough to win a title with those three on MAX contracts. Not a single first team all-NBA caliber guy.

I can just see Spida's arrival helping Jimmy coast until it's time for playoff-Jimmy, and under Jimmy's wing, DM becoming Wade 2.0

[JXL]

This series is whoever wins gets swept by Boston. Both of these teams have major flaws.

Magic would win a game or 2. They went 2-2 in the regular season.

Yeah, don't take whatever happened in the regular season with a grain of salt. Wolves put away the Suns in a sweep and they were 0-3 against them in the regular season. It means nothing.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

This series is whoever wins gets swept by Boston. Both of these teams have major flaws.

Magic would win a game or 2. They went 2-2 in the regular season.

1-2
I think they split the series with Cavs.

[Riverwalk2021]

Could the Celtics show up drunk and high and beat either one of these teams in a series? It's arguable.

Easiest path to the finals of my life time. That team has no excuse if they don’t win the title this year.

You would have thought that last year but these teams wouldn't have made the play-in in the West.

[Reeko]

I dont think the gap is seismic tbh. Wade is obviously clearly better but i feel like Mitchell is one of the more disrespected stars in the league. Like hes no worse than Brunson who's everyone's flavor of the month atm

It's pretty significant to be honest. Wade was bigger and more athletic, while also having a higher BBIQ. Personally I think Mitchell is one of the most overrated players in the league.

I disagree, i dont know what else to tell you. Yes Mitchell is smaller yes, which is significant and caps his ceiling as a slasher and defender relative to Wade, less athletic arguable but ok, probably a bit worse as a passer, but the guy's also like a Dame level shooter, or at least close lmao.

And for someone that gets diminshed as much as he does, he's largely been really good historically in the playoffs, i just dont get it honestly

So you think if you put Mitchell on the 2006 Heat, he could have done what Wade did or come close? And Mitchell has never been even in the discussion for being a top 5 player in the league, when Wade was for like a 5 year stretch. So forgive me for not believing that Wade had only slightly marginal advantages in the categories you. mentioned, while also being a worse shooter.

[DowJones]

This series is whoever wins gets swept by Boston. Both of these teams have major flaws.

Just curious with Porzingis confirmed out for the entire 2nd round, do you still think Celtics will sweep either Magic/Cavs?

Yes. Mobley isn't that good on offense yet, despite being a really good defender, you think he can guard Tatum straight up??

I do think Mobley can hang with Tatum. Mobley is a really good defender. He certainly won't shut Tatum down, but he can hang.

[seorang]

So we can all agree that Mobley is more Tyson Chandler than Kevin Garnett?

He's no KG, but he has much more to this game than Chandler.

[The Real Dalic]

Lot of haters in this thread that have seen 2 total games of the Magic and probably Cavs and can't just congratulate one of the youngest teams in the NBA staving off elimination with the arrival of a young 21 year old superstar blossoming on the biggest stage. Talking about "the Celtics are going to sweep either team anyway." Fine, if you feel that way, tune out and don't tune in to the 2nd round either. We don't want you here.

[ForeverTFC]

Can we agree that this is at least an ESPN2 level series?? Upgraded from NBATV

It’s still bad basketball but at least the last 2 games have been close and entertaining.