Cavaliers Rally Past Magic to Win First Playoff Series Without LeBron James in Over Three Decades

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.

30 plus years.#Cavs
— Hayden Grove (@H_Grove) May 5, 2024

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
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) May 5, 2024

Add us as a preferred source on Google