Why Magic Will Win Game 2 vs. Cavaliers

Despite their struggles in Game 1, especially on offense, Orlando Magic forwards Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are confident they can turn things around in Game 2 on Monday.

For many of the players on the Orlando Magic, they got a poor first taste of postseason play on Saturday in a 97-83 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Despite trailing 1-0 in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the Magic's confidence hasn't wavered. For Franz Wagner, the team's ability to turn things around will come down to what has driven them for much of the regular season.

"Belief is one of our main things," Wagner said. "If you don’t have belief, normally stuff doesn’t work out for yourself, so I think that's the first step. We’ve had that all year whether other people believe in us or not. So we’re gonna keep that up.”

Wagner scored 18 points, second only to All-Star forward Paolo Banchero, who had 24. Banchero shared Wagner's, as he's confident the Magic can turn things around in Game 2 after they managed to keep the game relatively close despite their struggles on offense.

"We shot 32 [percent] from the field, 21 [percent] from three and 60 [percent] from the line, and it still wasn't ever over until the last two minutes," Banchero said postgame. "I think we defended very well, [but] offensively, we didn't play well, so we just got to get our offense up with our defense, and it will be good."

The Magic were 28-86 (32.6 percent) from the field, 8-37 on their 3-point attempts (21.6 percent) and shot 19-30 (63.3 percent) from the free throw line. Orlando's 32.6 field goal percentage was its worst of the season 83 points was its second-fewest.

Cleveland shot 36-81 on its field goal attempts (44.4 percent), 8-30 on its 3-point attempts (26.7 percent and made 17 of 21 free throws (81 percent). Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, while forward Evan Mobley and center Jarrett Allen each had 16. Cleveland guard Darius Garland chipped in 14.

Orlando trailed by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter. The Magic cut the deficit to four points in the third quarter on two occasions and trailed by nine with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, but didn't get closer than that.

The Magic's ability to turn things around will lean heavily on their offensive production outside of Banchero and Wagner. Orlando guard Jalen Suggs had 13 points, while forwards Jonathan Isaac and Moe Wagner each had 10, but the rest of the team combined for eight points and one basket made, including Gary Harris and Markelle Fultz failing to score a single point. Cole Anthony's four points and Joe Ingles' lone point of the game all came on free throws.

If Orlando can get more from players who struggled to score, it'll have a shot to tie things up before it heads home for Game 3. But if the same struggles persist, the Magic may have a big hole to dig themselves out of to keep their season alive.

The Magic face the Cavs at 7 p.m. ET on Monday at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Game 2 of the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

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