Orlando evened the series at home and forced a Game 7 tie. The Cavaliers couldn’t even manage 50 points from Mitchell! Dallas eliminates the Clippers

Orlando in the series with Cleveland confirmed the rule that only the home team wins in this very close series. They won tonight’s game 103 to 96 to even the series. The Cavaliers were not helped by a heroic performance by Donovan Mitchell. It was Luka Doncic who led Dallas to the next round of the playoffs.

Orlando won Game 3 at home

Orlando once again confirmed that the series with Cleveland is the most evenly matched in this playoffs. The fact that both teams have a 100% success rate on their home floor is a testament to their evenness, and the series so far has gone the way that when the Cavaliers have played at home, they have literally eked out a close win. The Magic, on the other hand, have always handed their opponents a debacle at home.

However, tonight’s game was much more evenly matched, unlike Orlando’s previous two home games. Cleveland was not far from victory thanks to the performance of its leader Donovan Mitchell.

The home team was led by the traditional Paolo Banchero, who scored 27 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and recorded 4 assists. His performance was joined by youngster Franz Wagner, who scored just one point less, and it is this duo that keeps Orlando’s hopes alive.

Cleveland, however, put up a mighty fight in this game as the leader of the visiting team, Donovan Mitchell, gave a very heroic performance, becoming only the second player in this year’s playoffs to break the 50-point mark. However, the blemish on his performance was the low assist rate from his teammates. Only Darius Garland supported him with 21 points.

The game was evenly matched with the fact that there was only a 4 point difference at halftime. Cleveland took the lead in the third quarter, but Orlando then made a strong finish to decide the game in its favour and force a decisive seventh game, which will be played on the Cavaliers’ court.

Doncic leads Mavericks to advance

In the Dallas Mavericks vs. Los Angeles Clippers (114:101), Slovenian Luka Doncic was again one of the key players for the home team. He contributed 28 points, 7 rebounds and 13 assists to his team’s victory.

The best scorer of the game was his teammate Kyrie Irving. He was able to score two more points and it was the Irving – Doncic duo that was behind the easy progress to the next stage of the playoffs. The series with the Clippers was expected to be much more even.

However, the star players from Los Angeles failed in this series. Once again, it was clearly proven that a strong lineup on paper (Leonard, Harden, Westbrook and George) means nothing unless a collective performance is given.

Sure, the Clippers were missing Kawhi Leonard in particular, and perhaps the only player who didn’t downright disappoint was James Harden. But he certainly wasn’t enough to do it all by himself. The Mavericks won the series 4-2 and will face Oklahoma City in the next round.

Source: NBA