Magic Look Forward to 'Must-Win' Playoff Rematch with East-Best Cavaliers

ORLANDO, Fla. – For the Orlando Magic's first trip back to Cleveland since last season's seven-game playoff series, Paolo Banchero arrived in an unzipped red jacket over a white pocket t-shirt with matching red shorts that went past his knee – an outfit unusual for the November temperatures on the outskirts of Lake Erie.

Yet, when his teammates changed into their white pinstriped uniforms for the evening's contest with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Banchero didn't. News of his right abdominal muscle tear had come down less than 24 hours before that, and for the first of a 34-game stretch, they'd take the floor without the 2024 All-Star.

Orlando, understandably, was shell-shocked. The mood was somber, and with an ESPN audience watching along, the Cavs did what great teams do – pouncing on their downtrodden opponent in the first quarter and never looking back.

For their first contest back in the building they'd blown an 18-point Game 7 lead in months earlier, it wasn't exactly the get-back the Magic hoped for.

That was the sixth game of the Magic's season, but Tuesday night's contest sees the Magic play host to the Cavaliers in the 60th. A national audience will again watch along, with the 7:30 p.m. tip set to air on TNT.

But that's where most of the similarities end between this matchup and the one nearly four months ago.

Remember: Only one game separated these two teams in the final standings last season, with Cleveland's 48 total wins slightly edging Orlando's total triumphs. In such close quarters, that was all the difference – the Cavs owning the fourth seed versus the Magic owning the fifth – in a seven-game series that saw the home team win all seven contests.

The Magic, hampered by injuries for a large portion of the year, are 29-30 and firmly entrenched in the East's Play-In race. Cleveland boasts the NBA's best offensive rating (122.6) and record at 47-10.

Orlando will challenge Cleveland's mark by trying to rekindle that same home-court advantage.

"I'm excited for the game, just to match up with a great team," Banchero told reporters in the Magic's postgame locker room Sunday evening. "They're probably the best team in the league right now. I'm really excited to go to battle with the guys.

"We're going to have to be locked in," Banchero continued. "Seeing them in the playoffs last year, hopefully we come out with some motivation."

To that point, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley called up the film of Game 6 of last season's playoff matchup – a contest that saw Orlando outscore Cleveland 30-18 in the fourth quarter to win 103-96 and force the deciding Game 7.

"Now that was last year, this is this year," Mosley cautioned. "We've got to understand exactly what we know we're capable of doing from a mindset, but now you've got to go out, get on the floor and prove that."

Nearly a year removed from the contest, Franz Wagner said it was a needed refresher of the mentality needed to produce victory.

"The way we felt going into every game of that series, talking about belief and just enjoy[ing] the moment, I think we had that in that game," Wagner said Tuesday.

Moments before Wagner spoke, Wendell Carter Jr., who also missed the November meeting versus Cleveland because of injury, said getting over the series loss was an all-summer-long affair for him.

Thus, this Cavaliers matchup, which stands as one of 82 and not one of seven, "absolutely" has extra juice to it.

"I'm expecting our fans to come with it tonight, understanding the circumstances. It'll be a good one," Carter said Tuesday. "Being on TNT, it'll be a good environment for us and a chance for us to kind of get our lick back.

"With everything that's at stake with us trying to get into the playoffs, with it being the Cleveland Cavaliers that we're playing, the level of basketball that they're playing right now – statistically, they're an NBA Finals team right now – it'll be a great test for us," Carter added. "Now that we've got most of our guys back, everybody's kind of got a rhythm going right now. I think it'll be a good one tonight for sure. A must-win."

Orlando won't yet be whole come tipoff, but they're more complete now than they were in November. After missing Banchero, Carter and Goga Bitadze earlier this year, they'll contend without Jalen Suggs for a 13th straight game Tuesday as he continues nursing a left quad injury.

For Cleveland, guard Darius Garland is questionable to play because of a left hip contusion that forced him to miss Sunday's contest versus the Memphis Grizzlies.

"It'll take everybody," Wagner said. "We've got to be locked in from the start and also be aggressive to start the game, so I'm looking forward to it."

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