Mobley steps up for Cavs, seals win with block

CLEVELAND — Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley stood just outside the 3-point line and shadowed Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner as he fought through a screen. Once Mobley was the primary defender, Wagner made his way downhill toward the basket.

With five seconds left in Game 5 and the Cavs up by two points, Wagner went up with his right hand to lay it in. With Mobley’s left hand, he tipped the ball away, securing what would be a 104-103 win for Cleveland and a 3-2 edge in the first-round playoff series.

“It was a big play,” Mobley said. “The game was on the line. I just went for it. I knew he was going to go for the layup. So, went for it, got a clean block and we got the rebound. So, got us to win. I’m just trying to make game-winning plays and winning plays as much as possible, especially on the stretch. And I feel like I did a good job this game.”

With Jarrett Allen out due to a right rib contusion, the Cavs also were without his 13.8 rebounds per game and his crucial interior defense. Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff was unsure if Allen’s injury would cause him to miss any more games with the big man considered day-to-day.

Preaching its typical “by committee” approach, Cleveland wasn’t expecting just one player to pick up all of Allen’s slack. However, there was an understanding that Mobley would have to front a lot of the load.

“It was going to come down to the trenches,” Bickerstaff said. “It was going to come down to who was going to be able to get a stop in the moment. Evan was phenomenal defensively — challenging the ball, containing shots, forcing missed shots and rebounding.”

The Magic shot just 1-of-6 with Mobley as the defender in the first half. He finished the game with 14 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, including the one that won Cleveland the game.

Bickerstaff, Mobley and Cavs guard Darius Garland all said they knew Wagner was going to try to finish his shot in the final seconds with his left hand. It’s what Wagner has done time and time again in this series, to great success. What makes Wagner difficult to guard is his size, footwork and shiftiness.

But this time, Mobley wasn’t going to allow that move to work.

“Just when you think you have [Mobley] beat, he’s right back there,” Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell said. “I told him in the locker room, it’s the same thing he did to me before I got traded here in Utah. We were in a close game. I’m driving to the basket, I’m like, ‘All right, I got a layup.’ And next thing you know, here he comes out of nowhere.”

“I was able to tell him, ‘Yo, you don’t understand how unique that is,'” Mitchell continued with his praise of Mobley. “I’ve seen it with Rudy Gobert, as well. But for him to be able to guard on the perimeter like that and then chase you down and get the switch and then chase you down and go block that, that’s next level. So, it was great to see that out of him. That’s who he is. And we’ll need it again.”

While the Cavaliers were prepared to compete in “the trenches” — the same way as both their other wins this series — they wanted a concerted effort to generate more offense, particularly in 3-point shooting.

Mitchell finished with 28 points, but the first half was carried by Garland, who scored 17 of his 23 points in the first quarter.

“Shoot. Shoot. Shoot,” Mitchell said of what his message was to Garland. “I don’t give a damn. Shoot the ball. At the end of the day, go out swinging — and there’s a different spark we get when he’s like that. You see it. I’ve set the tones in Games 1 and 2, but there’s a different spark too when he’s also continuing to go.

“He’s a guy that’s [an] All-Star-level player, caliber player, and he’s just — shoot the ball, be you, be aggressive. And that’s what you see tonight.”

Max Strus, who hasn’t shot particularly well for Cleveland this series, finished with 16 points and hit four 3-pointers. Marcus Morris Sr. was inserted into the rotation and tallied 12 points off the bench.

It was Cleveland’s most balanced attack of the series.

It also was the first game this series that didn’t end in a blowout, so late-game execution was crucial.

Putting together this kind of performance — responding to Orlando’s runs, having to play in crunch time and seeing a group effort lead to a win — gives the Cavs confidence as they head back to Orlando for Game 6 on Friday.

“The biggest thing is just the effort we had tonight,” Mitchell said. “Understanding that those shots we hit, those runs we make, there’s no loudness, there’s nothing coming for us [Friday]. We got to stick together as a group. And I think going down there and knowing what’s to come, knowing who they are down there as a team, we got to be locked in. We got to stay together. And I have no doubt we will.”