The Cleveland Cavaliers comfortably defeated a resilient Orlando Magic 111 - 121 in front of their home crowd.
Cleveland's backcourt was electric in their win as Donovan Mitchell (35 points, seven rebounds) and Darius Garland (26 points, nine assists) paved the way for the offensively excellent Cavs.
Paulo Banchero enjoyed a career night despite the loss as the forward dropped 42 points and six rebounds.
The loss is the Magic's second in a row since their nine game win streak was cut by the Brooklyn Nets.
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Story of the game
Max Strus shot well in the opening stages, making three out of three attempts from beyond the arc in the first five minutes.
Cleveland found themselves in a great rhythm in the first, Mitchell started brightly and found his range early on, scoring 15 points in the opening 12.
The Cavaliers excellent first quarter offence meant they lead by 17 heading into the second.
The hosts' kept the energy levels high and extended their lead to as many as 22 with eight to go in the second.
The Magic struggled with their long distance shooting and had made zero of their eight attempts as they had a mountain to climb against the Cavs.
Dean Wade drained his second three of the game to put his side up by 21 with just under five minutes remaining in the half.
A few minutes later Mitchell challenged Banchero at the bucket and the former scored and won the and one call but he couldn't convert the free throw.
Orlando improved as the half came to a close but they still had not made a single three pointer after the first 24 minutes and trailed 52-65.
19 year old Anthony Black put the Magic within seven points of the Cavs following a three point play inside the first four minutes of the half.
Two minutes later Banchero scored the Magic's first three pointer of the game to bring them within five points of their opponents.
Banchero proved to be a real handful for the Cleveland defence and a tough three point play brought his points tally up to a season high 32 with five and a half to go in the third.
The Cavaliers closed out the penultimate quarter still in the drivers seat as they led 86-99.
Darius Garland dished a dime inside to Evan Mobley who slammed home to give the Cavs a 16 point lead with just under 10 minutes on the clock.
A couple of minutes later Banchero made a floated jump shot to give him a career high 36 points as well as cutting the Cavs' lead down to eight.
Orlando would not lie down and continued to respond to their opponents but Cleveland did well to keep pushing their attempts to make ground away.
The Cavs closed out the win as they prepare to face the Heat on Friday while the Magic will take on the Pistons a day later.
