Darius Garland seemingly struggled to find his stride while returning from offseason surgery. But lately, he's had the Cavs offense humming.
CLEVELAND — If Darius Garland is the motor that drives the Cavaliers offense's engine, it looked like he needed a new spark plug for much of this season.
Lately, though, the CavsAll-Star guard has appeared to rediscover his top gear.
Garland missed the first seven games, and nine more since, while recovering from offseason toe surgery, the result of an injury that sidelined and then limited him in the playoffs. But even with Garland on the floor, he clearly wasn't yet at 100 percent.
In his first 20 games played, Garland was averaging 17.1 points on 41.8% shooting with 3.1 turnovers. But in his last four games, including a 146-134 Cavs win over the Minnesota Timberwolves Jan. 10, he's shooting 56.7% from the floor, averaging 20.8 points and, perhaps most notably, he's committing just one turnover per game.
"It's huge for us," said Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson, referring to Garland's mid-range game returning in particular. "I keep saying, I just have great empathy for him coming back from this injury, and we're seeing flashes. Tonight might have been the best flash I've seen because of the change-of-direction and getting the mismatch and just obliterating the mismatch. And then the balance on the shot, the floaters."
When Garland returned during the second round of last year's playoffs, it was clear he didn't have the normal explosiveness that propelled him an All-Star nod while playing through a great deal of pain. That ability to create space and infiltrate defenses was a key aspect of the Cavs offense that helped them win 64 games in the regular season. Without it, the Cavaliers simply weren't as explosive.
"I told him, you know, I've mentioned that he's kind of our catalyst," guard Sam Merrill said. "When his pace is great and he's getting into the paint, it makes things so much easier and so much better for our offense specifically."
Atkinson noted the Jan. 10 win over the Timberwolves was likely one of the Cavs' best of the season. And it doesn't happen with a hampered Garland.
"We [have] average Darius, we don't win that game," Atkinson said. "That's kind of where we are. We need him to be elite, we need him to be all-star level for us to make that jump this year."
Darius Garland stats, injury report
In particular, Garland's floater has returned recently as more of a weapon. A major component of Garland's value to the Cavs offense is his ability to drive into the paint, which then leads to two options — go to the rim for a layup or pull up for a floater. That leaves opposing big men with a difficult decision, and it also forces them to go one direction or another. And that, in turn, allows Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley some extra room to operate as Garland pulls centers out to him.
"It's my bread and butter right now," Garland said of his floater. "If I see one go, I feel like the rest of them are going to go. Then from there, they have to help up. So the lobs are there, the kick-outs are there. … It opens up a lot for everybody."
Donovan Mitchell, Mobley, Allen and others all have their places in the Cavs offense. Garland, in a few ways, is what gets the gears moving in the first place.
"It just makes it easier for us," Mobley said, referencing Garland being able to get downhill when fully healthy. "It just gets him downhill. From there, he's making the right decisions. This game, they keep playing back and he just kept shooting floaters. Next game, they might be up."
Ryan Lewis covers the Cleveland Guardians and Cavaliers for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Darius Garland hot streak has Cleveland Cavs offense humming again
Category: General Sports
