Game Recap: Cavs vs Magic

*** Forty-four days. That’s how long the Orlando Magic have until they’ll need to face Donovan Mitchell again. 

After tormenting the Magic on their home floor two nights ago – scoring 27 of his 36 points after intermission and willing the Wine & Gold to the win – Cleveland’s six-time All-Star put on an encore performance, dropping 45 points on Jamahl Mosley’s struggling squad as the Cavaliers cruised to their fourth straight – a convincing 114-98 win on Monday night at Rocket Arena.

After knocking around through the first half of the season, the Cavaliers have found their footing in the new year, tying their season-long win streak on Monday, part of six wins in their last seven games. At 28-20, Cleveland is now just 1.5 games back for the Conference’s second seed.

The Cavs got off to a sluggish start on Monday, trailing 32-22 after one quarter. But that was as good as it would get for a Magic team that’s now dropped four straight. Cleveland scored 39 points in the second quarter, took a five-point lead into the halftime locker room and never looked back after intermission – leading by double-figures through most of the fourth quarter and cruising to the finish line. 

Mitchell didn’t wait until after halftime to do his work on Monday, he dominated for all four quarters – going 15-for-25 from the floor, including 5-of-8 from deep and 10-of-12 from the stripe, adding four boards, four assists and a steal. 

Monday’s effort also marked Mitchell’s third straight game of 30-plus, 25^th on the season, and fifth game topping the 40-point plateau. 

“For me, it’s kind of figuring out where we’re at,” said Mitchell. “It’s part of my job as the leader to be aggressive and set the tone. They came out and punched first and I felt like it was my job to go out there and respond. And I found myself knocking some threes down and the ball was going in. Some nights it’s not going to be like that; if they’re blitzing me, try to find guys and get guys going. But tonight, it was seeing what looks I had (in Saturday’s game in Orlando) and I was able to get to my spots (tonight), and the ball was going in.”

Evan Mobley followed up with 20 points on 9-for-16 shooting, adding a team-high-tying nine boards, two assists and a pair of blocks. 

Jaylon Tyson – who was selected to participate in the 2026 Castrol Rising Stars at NBA All-Star Weekend in L.A. next month – chipped in with 14 points and nine rebounds of his own, going 5-of-10 from the floor and 2-of-3 from deep. This season, the sanguine sophomore from Cal is shooting .513 from the field; .466 from long-range – tied for the second-best mark in the league. 

“(Jaylon)’s just a really good basketball player,” praised Coach Kenny Atkinson following the win. “The offensive stuff he’s doing is kind of coming out of nowhere. I’ll give our front office credit, they saw it in college. It’s a hell of a pick. The kid has an incredible work ethic; he’s on that Donovan level in terms of taking care of his body. And the last part of it is that we have leaders that support him. Coaches get way too much credit when a guy takes off like that.”

For the second straight game against Orlando, the Wine & Gold shot 53 percent from the floor and 44 percent from beyond the arc. Defensively, after holding the Magic to 41 percent shooting on Saturday, they held them to 40 percent on Monday. Once again, Cleveland held the Magic to 28 percent shooting from deep. 

Nae’Qwan Tomlin led all reserves with eight points, going 2-for-7 from the floor in 23 minutes of work. Craig Porter Jr. chipped in with four points, five boards and four dimes, and rookie Tyrese Procter chipped in with six points and three assists, going 2-of-3 from long-range in 14 solid minutes off the bench. 

Both teams had just three players notch double-figures in the rapid rematch – with Paolo Banchero leading Orlando with 27 points and leading both teams with 10 boards. Once again, the former No. 1 overall pick did most of his damage from the line, going 9-of-13 on the night. 

The Cavaliers are now 10-3 in their last 13 meetings against Orlando – the team they topped in seven games in the First Round of the Playoffs two years ago – and have won their last six games against Eastern Conference foes. 

*** After sinking Orlando on Monday, the Cavaliers play just two more home games before the All-Star break, beginning with a big Wednesday night matchup against Luka, LeBron and the Lakers. From there, Cleveland departs for the longest roadie of the season –starting with Friday night’s matchup in Phoenix. From there, the Wine and Gold travel to face the Blazers on Monday, Clippers on Wednesday, Kings on Saturday before closing out the trip the following Monday in Denver. The Cavs return to face the Wizards in the final game before the unofficial halfway point.