Wine & Gold Nuggets: Donovan Mitchell’s 39 helps rally Cavs from 18 down to take Game 7 from Magic 106-94

CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – After the final horn sounded, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland found each other and hugged in the middle of the floor.

Mitchell, Garland and the Cleveland Cavaliers can finally exhale. They're over the hump and on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Mitchell scored 24 of his 39 points in the second half to rally the Cavs from an 18-point first half deficit to a 106-94 win Sunday afternoon at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to win the series and advance to the semifinals for the first time without LeBron James since 1993.

Here’s our top Wine & Gold Nuggets from Game 7.

Comeback for the ages – Sunday’s win for the Cavs was the largest Game 7 comeback in NBA history surpassing Portland’s 17-point rally at Denver May 12, 2019. “We had confidence the entire time,” Garland said. “We knew we had another 24 minutes in the second half to just make a run and just try to chip away at it every possession, and that's what we did.” For much of the first half it felt like no amount of ‘In the Air Tonight,’ music, videos, banging on trash cans, rally towel waving or cheerleading was enough to inject energy in the Cavs, who looked like a team physically and emotionally drained while the Magic acted like a seasoned playoff team, but a late run to cut the halftime deficit to 10 proved to be a significant springboard. “This is always definitely a special moment for this group in particular who's been through so much this year, a group who's been left for dead multiple times by a lot of people this year,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “For them to come together in this moment and figure it out. It's more about the group than it is me, and I think we're most proud of that, but we're not done. We got a ways to go.”

Money Mitchell – Mitchell was sensational once again. Coming off a 50-point performance in Game 6, Mitchell erupted for 17 points in the third quarter to wake the Cavs from their first half slumber and take control of the game. “That's what special players do when it matters most,” Bickerstaff said. “And again, for us, you're just managing time score and then how do we get the guys the ball that need the ball in the right positions and just continue to watch the lead chip away. We'll go back. We'll think about it a little bit more later, but he was special when he needed to be.” Mitchell finished with 39 on 11 of 27 shooting from the field. Mitchell’s 89 points over the final two games of the series only trails Allen Iverson, who scored 90 points in the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals, for the most points scored by a player in Games 6 and 7 of a playoff series. “I'm tired of losing the first round, that's first and foremost,” Mitchell said. “And you work too hard, we work too hard as a group. So that was kind of my mindset and understanding that they were going to go on a run, and I'm glad it was the first half that kind of gave us something to respond to. But for me, just being attack minded, going out, obviously battling through what I'm battling through, but I could battle through it and figure it out or I could rehab it for the next three or four months. That's kind of where I'm at mentally.”

Block party – Evan Mobley blocked five shots Sunday to go with his 11 points and 16 rebounds. It was an impressive effort again without starting center Jarrett Allen available as he missed the final three games of this series due to severely bruised ribs. “It was just me out there just trying to hold down the paint for our team and I was just out there trying to do the best I can,” Mobley said. “I think [it's my] second game with five blocks, so I was just out there just trying to contest and make it hard on them and I feel like I did a pretty good job with that.” Mobley is the first Cavs player in team history to block five shots in back-to-back playoff games. “He is elite on that end of the floor,” Bickerstaff said. “It's not just the shot blocks. They don't track how many times people didn't go in there because they saw him standing there. But one of the things that's unique about Evan and special about Evan is it's the Bill Russell effect, right? When he blocks shots, he doesn't just block them out of bounds, he blocks them. And a lot of times we come back and get possession on his blocks. That's special and it's understanding of how important possessions are and how those blocks can start our breaks for us.”

Just in time – Garland struggled once again Sunday hitting just 3 of 13 shots, but his layup and three pointer after missing his first try on the possession helped the Cavs deliver a knockout punch late. “It was great for me,” Garland said. “I missed the first one and I was kind of mad about that one. And then Don came back to me for a two for one. I mean, it was all I could ask for, really in the same spot. So I'm glad that one went down. I got some energy off that a little bit, and then they called a timeout right after. So that's one of the best shots I think. So it was really good. It was a lot more confidence for me.” Credit Mitchell’s constant pep talks throughout the game for helping Garland escape his funk. “I told him I don't give a damn what happened the past quarter and a half, the misled whatever, I don't care,” Mitchell said. “Trust what you've done, trust who you are… And there's been moments where he's done the same to me, we have that relationship. So to see him respond like that, when he hit that three, I knew he's back. Sometimes you just need that. The second opportunity… I always tell him [whether] he was in foul trouble and things like that, but keep shooting the ball, keep being aggressive. I don't care if you turn the ball over, I don't care if the crowd boos, I don't care. We don't care. Just continue to be you. And I'm glad he was able to do that tonight.”

Lift from LeVert – Caris LeVert added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists off the bench and in many ways kept the Cavs from completely falling off the cliff in the first half. “I think we showed a lot of fight. I think we showed what we've been showing all year long,” LeVert said. “It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish. I think we started the game off slow. We were down what, 18, 20 in the first half and we just kept fighting. We kept chipping away and that's our team. We've been there several times this year, not just games, just as a unit. We've been banged up, we've been injured, but we got a next man up mentality and we just never quit.”

Crisis averted – Setting aside both LeBron James eras, it’s hard to imagine the last time walking into a building feeling like the fate of the franchise hung in the balance based on the outcome like Sunday for Game 7. Maybe Game 5 between the Red Sox and Indians in 1999 that saw Boston win the final three games of that division series and Mike Hargrove fired as manager after. A Game 7 loss to Orlando could have been cataclysmic for the Cavs. Instead, Bickerstaff can go to work on the Celtics instead of cleaning out his office. Koby Altman can breathe a sigh of relief as well as the Cavs finally won a playoff series without James on the roster and despite various challenges, the roster continues to take steps forward in the post season. Maybe Mitchell now believes enough in the organization to sign an extension to stay this summer. The All-Star certainly doesn’t play or carry himself like someone who is ready to just pack his bags and get out of town as soon as possible contrary to the national media narrative. “It's an honor, obviously, to be in part of history in that regard,” Mitchell said. “But the biggest thing is, and I told everybody in the locker room, I don't mean this disrespectful, but it doesn't really mean much. I mean, we didn't make the group we made just to come in and win the first round. And obviously we have a tall task in Boston... We accomplished one goal, now we have to do it again. That's the mindset. Like I said, we could celebrate this for a few hours, but we ain't got really time to do all that… When they traded for me, [it wasn’t] just to win a first round series.”

Lucky 7 – With Sunday’s win, the Cavs improved to 6-2 all-time in Game 7s, including winning their last four.

Bring on Boston – There’s no time for the Cavs to celebrate as they open the conference semifinals in Boston Tuesday night. “I'm pretty sure everybody thinks they're going to come in and kick our ass,” Mitchell said. “So for us to continue to stay level headed throughout, not listen to well y'all, and just be who we are, that's the biggest thing.”

Semifinals schedule – Game 1: Tuesday, at Boston, 7:00 p.m. on TNT; Game 2: Thursday at Boston, 7:00 p.m. on ESPN; Game 3: Saturday in Cleveland, 8:30 p.m. on ABC; Game 4: Monday, May 13 in Cleveland, TBD on TNT; Game 5: Wednesday, May 15 at Boston, TBD on TNT; Game 6: Friday, May 17 in Cleveland, TBD on ESPN; Game 7: Sunday, May 19 at Boston TBT on TBD.

Starting 5 – In the absence of Allen, Bickerstaff went with Evan Mobley, Max Strus, Isaac Okoro, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland Sunday afternoon.