Through three quarters, Garland had two points on 1-of-9 shooting, two turnovers and four fouls. The Cavaliers held an eight-point lead over the Magic heading into the fourth quarter, but if they were going to send Orlando home and advance in the playoffs, they needed their second-leading scorer to step up.
Television cameras caught veteran guard Donovan Mitchell chatting with Garland on the bench during the game. His message? Keep going.
“He kept trusting me,” Garland said after the game. “… It’s cool to have him in my ear telling me to keep going, stay confident in myself and that the entire team and organization believes in me. I really needed it, so it was good.”
Love seeing Donovan Mitchell pumping up Darius Garland, trying to keep him engaged pic.twitter.com/nzwsEV2fh0
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) May 5, 2024
Garland delivered when it mattered most. The Magic were hanging around, trailing by eight points with six minutes to play. Garland missed a three-pointer, but after an offensive rebound, Mitchell shoveled it over to Garland again. This time, he connected to put Cleveland up double digits.
Mitchell went over to Garland and gave him a big hug.
Darius Garland cashes in to give the Cavs their largest lead of the game in the 4Q!
“To see him respond like that, when he hit that three, I knew he was back,” Mitchell said. “Sometimes you just need that—second opportunity. … That’s huge. That’s who he needs to be.”
Garland scored 10 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter to help the Cavaliers finish off Orlando.
Cleveland now advances to the Eastern Conference semifinals to face the Boston Celtics, who finished the regular season with the NBA’s best record (64–18). Game 1 between the Cavaliers and Celtics is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET Tuesday at TD Garden.
Among the four major North American sports leagues, the NBA has traditionally stood out in the popular imagination as being the league of the dynasties. The Boston Celtics of the 1960s begat the Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s begat the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, and so on and so forth.
For this reason, it may surprise you to learn that in the NBA Finals' entire history—from its quaint 1947 origins to the present day—professional basketball's final series has seen just nine sweeps.
Here is a look back at the nine perfect performances in the event's annals. Note before we begin that there were four best-of-five finals sweeps in the history of the National Basketball League, the NBA's immediate predecessor.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Celtics 118, Lakers 115
Game 2
Celtics 128, Lakers 108
Game 3
Celtics 123, Lakers 110
Game 4
Celtics 118, Lakers 113
The very first Finals between Boston and the Lakers, and the only one that took place while the Lakers were located in Minneapolis. The first of the Celtics' run of eight straight championships, the longest streak in the history of the four major North American sports. Boston center Bill Russell averaged 29.5 rebounds per game, which will play.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Bucks 98, Bullets 88
Game 2
Bucks 102, Bullets 83
Game 3
Bucks 107, Bullets 99
Game 4
Bucks 118, Bullets 106
The Milwaukee Bucks' first title, and their only title until 2021. The first of six rings for Bucks center Lew Alcindor, the future Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The most recent of two series, along with the 1956 Finals, played under a 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 format in which the two teams alternated home games.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Warriors 101, Bullets 95
Game 2
Warriors 92, Bullets 91
Game 3
Warriors 109, Bullets 101
Game 4
Warriors 96, Bullets 95
Both the Golden State Warriors (Al Attles) and Washington Bullets (K.C. Jones) had Black head coaches, which hadn't happened before in any league. The Bullets actually took three of four from Golden State in the regular season, anticipating a highly competitive matchup. A 14-5 run late in Game 4 gave the Warriors their last title until 2015.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
76ers 113, Lakers 107
Game 2
76ers 103, Lakers 93
Game 3
76ers 111, Lakers 94
Game 4
76ers 115, Lakers 108
A fitting conclusion to Hall of Fame center Moses Malone's third and final MVP season. Polished off a 12-1 playoff run after Malone predicted the Philadelphia 76ers would need only four games to win each series. The last major Philadelphia championship until the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series in 2008.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Pistons 109, Lakers 97
Game 2
Pistons 108, Lakers 105
Game 3
Pistons 114, Lakers 110
Game 4
Pistons 105, Lakers 97
The Detroit Pistons' first title after a grueling seven-game loss to the Lakers the season prior. Featured a superb performance from Pistons guard Joe Dumars, who averaged 27.3 points per game. The curtain call on Abdul-Jabbar's spectacular 20-year career.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Rockets 120, Magic 118 (OT)
Game 2
Rockets 117, Magic 106
Game 3
Rockets 106, Magic 103
Game 4
Rockets 113, Magic 101
Notorious for the Orlando Magic's complete meltdown in Game 1, during which guard Nick Anderson missed four crucial free throws to open the door for Houston Rockets guard Kenny Smith's game-tying three. The Rockets, seeded sixth, became the lowest-seeded team to win the title. Houston's title followed a seven-game championship win over the New York Knicks in 1994.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Lakers 99, Nets 94
Game 2
Lakers 106, Nets 83
Game 3
Lakers 106, Nets 103
Game 4
Lakers 113, Nets 107
The Lakers' third consecutive championship, and center Shaquille O'Neal's third consecutive Finals MVP award. Los Angeles overcame a superb individual series from New Jersey Nets guard Jason Kidd, who had averaged a triple-double in the Eastern Conference finals. The last Finals aired on NBC to date.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Spurs 95, Cavaliers 76
Game 2
Spurs 103, Cavaliers 92
Game 3
Spurs 75, Cavaliers 72
Game 4
Spurs 83, Cavaliers 82
Noted for its astoundingly low scores, Game 3 was the lowest-scoring Finals game since 1955. The first Finals for Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James, and for every Cavalier apart from veteran guard Eric Snow. Despite several close games, only in Game 4 did Cleveland lead in the second half.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Warriors 124, Cavaliers 114 (OT)
Game 2
Warriors 122, Cavaliers 103
Game 3
Warriors 110, Cavaliers 102
Game 4
Warriors 108, Cavaliers 85
The sweep everyone remembers. Began with a bizarre overtime game in which Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith appeared to forget the score at the end of regulation and James scored 51 points in defeat. The average margin of victory, 15, is the largest in any NBA Finals.
For Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland, Games 6 and 7 of the Cavaliers' first-round series against the Orlando Magic were 96 minutes from hell.
Despite a strong offensive performance in Friday's Game 6, a late eight-second violation by Garland helped seal Cleveland's fate in a 103-96 defeat. In Game 7 on Sunday, he struggled mightily, making just three of his 13 field goal attempts.
However, Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell refused to quit on his backcourt mate as Cleveland iced its eventual 106-94 win. Behind-the-scenes video from the game showed one Cavaliers All-Star encouraging another.
"I believe in you. Believe in yourself," Mitchell told Garland in video posted on social media by Cleveland. "Believe in yourself. I believe in you, we believe in you."
Garland believed just enough to knock down a three-pointer, a two-pointer and three free throws as the Cavaliers outscored the Magic in the fourth quarter 30-26.
With the win, Cleveland advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals, where it will meet the Boston Celtics.
To tell the story of the Cleveland Cavaliers is—with a few exceptions—to tell the story of now-Los Angeles Lakers and former Cavaliers forward LeBron James. The NBA's longtime leading scorer was the architect of all five of the team's conference titles and every one of their playoff series wins since 1993...
...until Sunday. After going down by 18 during a nightmarish first half, Cleveland rallied past the Orlando Magic 106-94 to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics.
Guard Donovan Mitchell paced the Cavaliers with 39 points, nine rebounds and five assists, while forward Paolo Banchero tallied 38 points and 16 rebounds in defeat.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have won a NBA Playoffs series without LeBron James for the first time since 1993.
The last time Cleveland advanced in a playoffs without James, it defeated the New Jersey Nets three games to two in a best-of-five first round series—losing to guard Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the conference semifinals.
The Magic led the Cavaliers 49-31 with 4:17 left in the first half. Orlando's blown lead is the largest in a Game 7 since the NBA began tracking play-by-play data in 1997.
Cavs come back from 18 points down to beat Magic in Game 7. It's largest comeback in a Game 7 win in play-by-play era (since 1997), topping the 17 point rally for Blazers vs Nuggets in 2019 2nd round. Teams had been 0-34 down 18+ in Game 7s since 1997
