CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cavs won’t have much time to exhale.

Fresh off Friday night’s win over Sacramento, fifth-seeded Cleveland (26-20) heads south for the second night of a back-to-back, taking on the seventh-seeded Magic (23-20) at the Kia Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. Eastern.

Cleveland’s recent surge hasn’t always been pretty, but it has been productive. The Cavs have pieced together two straight wins and taken five of their last seven by leaning into defense and timely execution. That formula will be tested again with tired legs and limited prep time.

Against the Magic’s Paolo Banchero, Evan Mobley faces a direct test of his ability to consistently impose himself as a two-way force, with particular emphasis on the offensive end. Matching Banchero’s physicality and shot creation while still anchoring Cleveland’s defense remains a key barometer for how far Mobley’s game is trending.

Orlando, meanwhile, is searching for stability. The Magic have dropped five of their last 10 games and enter Saturday on a two-game skid, struggling to consistently generate offense.

For a team hovering in the East’s middle tier, this matchup represents a chance to halt the slide and protect home court.

For Cleveland, it’s another opportunity to stack wins, even under less-than-ideal circumstances, and continue proving that growth sometimes shows up less in style points and more in the standings.

“The race is tighter, so maybe you’re not going to go knock off 15 in a row. But I think the way it’s set up right now, if you can get three, four in a row, it can really push you to another seeding, another place in the standing,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said pregame on Friday. “So I think for us it becomes important to start stacking some consecutive wins instead of the up and down and back and forth. Our guys know it, we talk about it, but now we got to go out there and do it.”

How to watch the Cavs: See how to watch the Cavs games with this handy game-by-game TV schedule.

Here’s what to know about the matchup:

Who: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Orlando Magic

Series: First of four matchups in the regular season.

Where: Kia Center

When: 7 p.m. ET.

The point spread: Magic minus-1.5; O/U 228.5

TV: FanDuel Sports Network – Ohio