Donovan Mitchell's playoff masterpiece not enough as Cavs lose Game 6 to Orlando Magic, 103-96

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ORLANDO, Fla. — There will be a Game 7.

Despite taking a lead into the fourth quarter and being 12 minutes away from the second round of the NBA playoffs, the Cavs lost Game 6 to the Orlando Magic, 103-96, on Friday night.

If Cleveland is going to win its first playoff series without LeBron James since 1993, it will need to happen on Sunday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

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Doing his best LeBron impression, All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell gutted through a still-troublesome left knee that was aggravated again in the second half and delivered a virtuoso performance.

Relentlessly attacking the Magic interior and finishing with acrobatics around the rim, Mitchell poured in a game-high 50 points on 22-of-36 shooting and 3 of 9 from 3-point range in 42 scintillating minutes. He scored Cleveland's final 22 points — a stretch that covered the entire fourth quarter and the final few minutes of the third. Mitchell is just the second player to score their team's final 20-plus points in a playoff game over the last 20 years. LeBron is the other.

It wasn't enough. Not this night. Not this building. Not a series in which the home team has won every game.

"Just trying to continue to force my way into the game," Mitchell said. "Hasn't been the best series for me. Just trying to find ways to make my imprint on the game. That was the mindset. Just try to come out and put them away."

The Cavs almost did. They led by five points going into the fourth. They could feel it. Redemption in the grasp. For Mitchell — and Cleveland.

But Orlando opened the fourth with a 6-0 spurt to retake the lead and the building started to become unhinged. Unlike the two previous games inside Kia Center, the Cavs didn't crumble. The back-and-forth final quarter featured five lead changes and four ties.

After the game was even at the four-minute mark, the Magic went in front by five about a minute later. They extended that lead to seven, the largest fourth-quarter advantage for either team. Orlando closed out the game at the free-throw line. In all, the Magic hoisted 26 freebies compared to 10 from the Cavs, who dominated the paint all night, finishing with a 66-38 edge there.

"I want to give credit to Orlando and this is not an excuse," Mitchell said calmly. "But we attack, we get to the paint. Ten free throws, to me, is crazy. At the end of the day, a guy who drives like that, and I'm not saying that's the only reason why we lost, we have many different things we can point to, but for us, the way we drive and get into the paint, D.G. (Darius Garland) had none, maybe we have to make a point to drive more and maybe it's on us. I think we deserve ... and it's something to look at. But at the end of the day, we lost."

Mitchell's backcourt mate, Darius Garland, chipped in with 21 points. Garland also committed three costly turnovers in the final frame. The Cavs, as a team, threw the ball away eight times in the fourth.

Max Strus added 10 points. No one else reached double figures.