Mobley rejects Magic, Cavaliers win Game Five

      Evan Mobley blocked the driving shot of Orlando's Franz Wagner with six seconds to go to allow the Cleveland Cavaliers to stagger away with a 104-103 victory in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals and a 3-2 lead in the series.

Mobley's block and two ensuing Donovan Mitchell free throws salted the game away although Pablo Banchero nailed a three-pointer to cut the final margin to one point.

Mitchell led Cleveland with twenty-eight points, Darius Garland added twenty-three, and Evan Mobley finished with fourteen points and thirteen rebounds.

Game six will be in Orlando on Friday night.

A Cleveland win ends the series, while an Orlando win extends the series to game seven, which would be on Sunday in Cleveland,

Swashbucklings

1) The Cavaliers announced before the game that Jarrett Allen would miss the game with bruised ribs, which cost them their big man inside and allowed Orlando to take the ball to the hoop without Cleveland's best rim protector.

2) Evan Mobley did a fine job in Allen's place and the game-saving block was such a brilliant play on Mobley's part.

Mobley blocked Franz Wagner's shot with his left hand rather than with his stronger right hand because if Mobley had reached across to attempt the block with that hand, he surely would have fouled Wagner.

3) Donovan Mitchell scored fourteen points in the fourth quarter, nine of those from the free throw line,.

Mitchell is clearly bothered by a nagging left knee problem and it's affecting his play as he shot nine of twenty-three from the floor with only one basket from three-point lane.

4) Give Mitchell credit for clutch play as he connected on nine of ten from the free throw line and the two key freebies after Mobley's block were important to lock up the game, even more so when Paolo Banchero hit a three-pointer at the end of the game.

Had Mitchell made only one of the two shots, the Banchero three-pointer would have tied the game.

5) Max Strus played his best game of the series, finishing with sixteen points and hitting four three-pointers.

6) Darius Garland also played his best game of the series as he scored twenty-three points, many of them in the first half.

If Cleveland has a chance of closing this series in six games, it will be from a major contribution from Garland.

7) Paolo Banchero finished the night as the game's leading scorer with thirty-nine points, finishing fourteen of twenty-four shooting, and the former top overall pick in 2022 was clearly the best player on the floor.

Banchero is a bit more of an outside shooter but his game is what I'm sure Cleveland hopes to see from Evan Mobley as Mobley progresses.