Magic PG Cole Anthony Confident Ahead vs. Cavaliers in Game 6

It's do-or-die for the Orlando Magic in Game 6 of the 2024 NBA Playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday.

Apr 25, 2024; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony (50) shoots a three pointer / Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports

ORLANDO — For most of the players on the Orlando Magic, Game 6 against the Cleveland Cavaliers will be the biggest of their careers to date.

Win, and Orlando will force Game 7 on Sunday. Lose, and the book on Orlando's best season since 2010-11 will be closed. Fortunately for the Magic, their biggest game this season will come at a place where they've found plenty of success and against a team they dominated in their last two outings home.

With the stakes and the Magic's recent success against the Cavs at home, point guard Cole Anthony believes his team is more than capable of knotting the series up and forcing a winner-take-all Game 7.

“We’re back at home," Anthony said. "This is a team we know we can beat. We’ve done it before. We just got to lock in on the key points…We just lost a close one last game, few mistakes here and there. This team's beatable. We’ve done it before, I think we can do it again."

The Magic lost a 104-103 nail-biter in Game 5 in Cleveland to fall behind 3-2 in the series.

The Magic went 29-12 in the regular season at home, the sixth-best record among NBA teams. They've also been dominant in two games at home in the playoffs against Cleveland, winning 121-83 in Game 3 and 112-89 in Game 4. With the two wins, Orlando won consecutive playoff games by over 20 points for the first time in franchise history and made it the first in NBA history to win by a combined 60 plus points after trailing the series 0-2.

Orlando shot 90 of 169 in its two playoff games at home (53.3 percent) compared to 66 of 244 (38.1 percent) in the three road games against Cleveland.

The Magic's season depends on them being able to continue their home success. If Orlando can play how it did in Games 3 and 4, the odds are heavy in its favor that it'll force a Game 7. And if the Magic can afford itself one more chance to win in Cleveland, that experience alone can be exactly what a young team needs to elevate itself in the future.

Orlando faces Cleveland in Game 6 of the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs on Friday at the Kia Center at 7 p.m. ET.

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