Cavs resting Darius Garland vs. Pelicans should reinvigorate him

Cleveland Cavaliers rookie guard Darius Garland has been in a bit of a funk in recent games, and them reportedly resting him Tuesday versus the New Orleans Pelicans should reinvigorate the youngster.

Though I believe Cleveland Cavaliers rookie point guard Darius Garland has looked good for most of January, he’s hit a rut in recent games. Of course, for a guy that just turned 20 years old, that’s understandable this time of the year.

On the bright side, Garland is getting more comfortable when it comes to hitting floaters and it’s been a pleasure to see him show better playmaking feel and timing of passes to cutters along with kickouts to shooters.

More from King James Gospel

• 3 possible starting lineups for Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023-24
• The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
• 4 players the Cavaliers should pursue in 2024 free agency
• 6 players Cavaliers might replace Jarrett Allen with by the trade deadline
• This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead

In January, Garland’s had 5.1 assists per game, and while 2.9 turnovers per outing, as shown by NBA.com, has been a crutch to an extent, Darius has displayed tons of potential as a creator for others such as Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman, along with pieces such as Larry Nance Jr.

Nonetheless, Garland has been off as a shooter/driving scorer in recent games going back to the end of the Cavs’ six-game road trip earlier this month.

In his last six games, Garland has an effective field goal shooting clip of only 36.5 percent, and he’s hit only 29.4 percent of his three-point attempts, as indicated by NBA.com. Coupled with that, in that span, DG has averaged 3.7 assists and unfortunately averaged 3.5 turnovers per contest.

Moreover, the Cleveland Cavaliers choosing to rest Garland on Tuesday against the New Orleans Pelicans (per the NBA’s injury reports) should reinvigorate Garland, I believe; this was h/t Tom Withers of The Associated Press, for reference. Garland’s been reportedly dealing with a really bad bout of sickness, much in the same realm of Dante Exum before, and I’m sure that’s played into Garland having a rough stretch of games, as it did for Exum I thought before, too.

Additionally, going up against the likes of terrific perimeter defenders in Lonzo Ball and feasibly Jrue Holiday would not be fun for Garland on Tuesday. Coupled with that, the Pels have plenty of rim protection with the likes of Derrick Favors, Zion Williamson and Jaxson Hayes.

New Orleans plays at the league’s sixth-fastest pace, too, according to NBA.com, thanks to Ball, Brandon Ingram and others. So again, the Cavaliers resting DG on Tuesday, which is the second leg of a back-to-back as Cleveland played at the Detroit Pistons on Monday, could reinvigorate the rook.

Garland has not missed any of Cleveland’s 47 games thus far, anyhow.

As Withers also noted per the Cavs’ injury report, rookie wing Kevin Porter Jr., who returned from a near three-week absence at the Detroit Pistons on Monday due to a reported left knee sprain and gave Cleveland much-needed energy, is questionable.

Porter sprained his right ankle in Detroit, but considering he came back in that one and played well following the ankle sprain, I’d imagine there’s a good chance we could see KPJ play against the Pels. It is a back-to-back, though, so a questionable designation is sensible.

Factoring in this injury news regarding Garland and Porter, who are both key contributors for Cleveland, it’s understandable that the line is as shown below, courtesy of The Action Network for this game.

Given that the Cavs have repeatedly struggled defending teams that play uptempo, it’s also not shocking that the vast majority of bets have come in on the Pelicans at The Action Network. Cleveland needs Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson to have huge nights to have a chance in this one, realistically.

I’d hope that Exum with an increased minutes-share, and feasibly Matthew Dellavedova in some spot minutes, can provide some solid play and get others involved. For reference, Brandon Knight is listed as out in this one, too, due to reported left knee soreness.

Anyway, even with Garland having a bit of a rough patch as a shooter in recent games since the end of that six-game roadie, I still believe DG and Sexton both should be in the Rising Stars Challenge on All-Star Weekend in Chicago.

The participants will be picked for that on January 28, and those eligible include first and second-year players, of which there’s 20 in total, 10 of which will play for Team USA and 10 of which will play for Team World, h/t CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn.

So, again, hopefully Garland can get out of his mini-rut and resting Tuesday can reinvigorate the rook. I’d expect Garland will play next for the Cleveland Cavaliers when they face the Toronto Raptors at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Thursday.