Darius Garland’s 21 points across the first three quarters helped the Cavaliers build a nine-point lead in Game 6, but the point guard made one critical mistake in the final minutes that hurt Cleveland’s chances of clinching their first-round series Friday.
With just over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Garland dribbled toward the back corner near his bench after the Cavaliers collected a rebound, beginning to slowly advance the ball.
Garland then started toward the left side of the court.
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Then, his path shifted — horizontally — toward the center.
And by the time he was one step away from crossing over the mid-court line, a referee blew the whistle and signaled for an eight-second violation.
The Magic didn’t end up scoring on their next sequence after getting the ball back, but the Cavaliers trailed by five points at the time and lost a possession to cut into Orlando’s lead — eventually resulting in a 103-96 loss that sent the series back to Cleveland for a Game 7 and wasted Donovan Mitchell’s 50-point masterpiece .