The match ended when Donovan Mitchell and Paolo Banchero exchanged a few words while greeting each other. “ He told me he had a lot of respect for me “, reports Magic playerauthor of 38 points and 16 rebounds, against 39 units for the Cavs rear, in a final battle won by the Cavs.
The respect for the latter undoubtedly aims more broadly at the entire Florida team which, despite its youth and its complicated start to the series, was able to push Cleveland until the 7th game.
By even offering themselves a serious chance of winning. Because in the middle of the second quarter of this last round, the Magic had a lead of up to 18 points. Insufficient, however.
“ We told each other the truth throughout the year. I came into the locker room and said it sucked. That's the case, that's the case… Not winning the match, knowing that we had an 18-point lead and that we had the feeling that we could finish the series and not make it. The feeling is not good “, confides Jamahl Mosley.
But the coach also wants to put this elimination defeat “ in perspective. Sometimes these painful things are blessings in disguise, so the guys continue to realize how hard we have to work this summer. Attention to detail, focus on the game plan… All these things matter. You have to experience it, feel it in real time. »
Leave with this memory for the summer
The pressure and all the attention generated by a Game 7, a sort of apotheosis at the end of a long series, cannot be forgotten. The Magic coach says he watched the TNT set the day before, with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, as well as Dirk Nowitzkitalk about their own Game 7.
“ They all mentioned the exact number of matches they remembered, how many they won and lost. We always remember Game 7 and I think these young men will always remember this game and how hard it was, what we could have done differently. We're going with this for the summer and the year to come “.
The technician, always to re-situate this meeting, recalls the entire journey carried out by his troop, who finished with the best victory percentage (47v-35d or 57%) of the franchise since 2012. And in a nice 5th place in the East, without having to go through the “play-in”. And beyond the results, “ how closely they are linked to each other is what we really remember “.
The future therefore looks full of promise for this group. “ It's hard to talk about it today, but compared to where we started and where we end up in such a short time… This is our second year as a group », recalls Paolo Banchero as a warning for the other teams in the East.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Paolo Banchero | 80 | 35.0 | 45.5 | 33.9 | 72.5 | 1.0 | 5.9 | 6.9 | 5.4 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 22.6 |
| Franz Wagner | 72 | 32.5 | 48.2 | 28.1 | 85.0 | 1.0 | 4.3 | 5.3 | 3.7 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 19.7 |
| Jalen Suggs | 75 | 27.0 | 47.1 | 39.7 | 75.6 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 12.6 |
| Cole Anthony | 81 | 22.4 | 43.5 | 33.8 | 82.6 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 2.9 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 11.6 |
| Wendell Carter, Jr. | 55 | 25.6 | 52.5 | 37.4 | 69.4 | 2.0 | 4.9 | 6.9 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 11.0 |
| Moe Wagner | 80 | 17.7 | 60.1 | 33.0 | 81.4 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 4.3 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 10.9 |
| Markelle Fultz | 43 | 21.2 | 47.2 | 22.2 | 69.7 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 7.8 |
| Gary Harris | 54 | 24.0 | 44.1 | 37.1 | 75.6 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 6.9 |
| Jonathan Isaac | 58 | 15.8 | 51.0 | 37.5 | 72.0 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 4.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 6.8 |
| Goga Bitadze | 62 | 15.4 | 60.3 | 14.3 | 65.5 | 1.8 | 2.9 | 4.6 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 5.0 |
| Anthony Black | 69 | 16.9 | 46.6 | 39.4 | 61.3 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 4.6 |
| Joe Ingles | 68 | 17.2 | 43.6 | 43.5 | 82.4 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 4.4 |
| Caleb Houstan | 59 | 13.8 | 38.8 | 37.3 | 80.8 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 4.3 |
| Trevelin Queen | 14 | 11.8 | 36.8 | 17.6 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 2.9 |
| Chuma Okeke | 47 | 9.2 | 35.7 | 28.0 | 57.1 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 2.3 |
| Kevin Harris | 2 | 3.0 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 |
| Jett Howard | 18 | 3.7 | 33.3 | 28.0 | 50.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 1.6 |
| Admiral Schofield | 23 | 3.7 | 38.5 | 37.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
