How the Cavs’ Evan Mobley completely bamboozled Magic in Game 1

After Evan Mobley’s first two attempts were at the basket, with one blocked by Orlando’s Jalen Suggs and the other resulting in a dunk, he mixed it up. Mobley flared out to the perimeter instead of rolling toward the basket in a routine pick-and-roll with Donovan Mitchell.

In the sudden shift, Mobley was left wide open in the corner and calmly sunk a three-point attempt, cooly raising three fingers in the air while running back on defense.

“That’s big for him and big for us,” Mitchell said. “Sometimes, that’s going to be the best shot we’re going to get. Take it and be confident. I think for a young player to continuously work at it and see it happen in a moment like that, especially at the start of a game, that’s huge. But I’ll say it: he did it in Game 1. Now do it again and again and again.”

Soon after, acting as a trailing big toward the top of the perimeter, Mobley got the ball from a driving Darius Garland and burned the Magic a second time from beyond the arc. Orlando called timeout immediately after Mobley’s second three-point make.

“It spread the defense out,” Garland said. “We want him to shoot with confidence and I’m glad he made a couple of ‘em. It just opened up the offense for everybody else.”

It was clear that the Magic hadn’t accounted for it, leaving Mobley open on both of his makes. Since Mobley is only a career 26.5% three-point shooter, it might make sense why scoring from the perimeter wasn’t the top focus in defending him. But if scoring from the perimeter becomes a featured part of his game, it dramatically changes how opponents plan for Cleveland every single night and in this postseason battle with Orlando.

“If you have to make an adjustment that early in the game, it takes you out of your game plan,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He was the trigger for that.”

“I think the way that you guard him and how you have to account for him now,” Bickerstaff continued on Mobley’s shooting acumen. “He’s the guy. If he’s making those shots, you can’t shift in and protect the paint as much as you want to, because you’re just giving him wide-open looks.”

Mobley shared he doesn’t view opponents sagging off of him as a sign of disrespect whenever he’s on the perimeter. Instead, it’s just a reminder that he needs to burn opponents, confidently taking and making shots whenever he’s open from three-point range. It’s something he’s been working on for quite a while now and finally, it’s all starting to click when the games matter the most.

“I’ve been working on it relentlessly and I feel like it’s getting a lot better,” Mobley said of his 3-point shot. “Anytime I’m open on the 3, I’m gonna just keep shooting ‘em.”

Confidence is key, no matter who you are. But, in Mobley’s case, it’ll be interesting to see how the Magic adjust to him on the perimeter in Game 2. If they keep him open, then he’ll happily keep burning them and, hopefully, inching the Cavs to a first-round victory.