Cavs: Darius Garland seems to be getting his groove back

Cleveland Cavaliers fans had high expectations for Darius Garland heading into his third season with the team, and coming off a bounce-back campaign in Year 2, that was understandable.

After a fairly underwhelming rookie year, for a variety of reasons, Garland had 17.4 points and 6.1 assists per outing last season, and turned a corner. A breakout season seems to be a reasonable scenario in Year 3, too, as KJG’s John Suchan detailed.

The on and off-ball scoring, passing abilities, and deep range from Garland was on display regularly, which was a bright spot for Cleveland last season. He knocked in 39.5 percent of his three-point attempts last year, also, which was nice to see.

Now, it is very, very early still in the 2021-22 season, but Garland started a bit slow, and that was likely in part due to a left ankle sprain he sustained in the season opener at the Memphis Grizzlies. He did gut through that and play most of that contest, although he would miss the following two games.

It’s not as if he was off, per se, however, Garland just looked to be not quite fully back yet in a few games returning those early absences. On the season, he’s had 15.4 points per outing, which is a bit down.

But he’s had 7.9 assists per outing, too, albeit with 4.1 turnovers on average, which does need to be trimmed down some.

That said, while there was somewhat of a tough start for him, Garland has appeared to be nearing himself again in the past handful of games, for instance. The first two didn’t have the same splits, but in the past four contests overall, he’s had 16.8 points per contest and has hit 45.0 percent from three, with 6.8 assists still, and has averaged 1.8 steals.

And the confidence seems to be back from him as a playmaker and scorer, which has paid off, particularly in two close wins earlier in the week and in a gutsy win at the Toronto Raptors on Friday.

Cavs: Garland seems to be getting his groove back.

Garland was 1-of-6 from three-point range at the Charlotte Hornets in a win on Monday, and shot 5-of-13 overall, with four assists to three turnovers.

So that wasn’t the greatest outcome; on a positive note, he did seem to be getting to quality shots, and was making an impact as an initiator some for Cleveland. On the defensive end, he was beat at times, which will happen against a player as talented as LaMelo Ball when he’s on him, but Garland’s team feel has been a positive this season and was then. In that game, he helped with three steals.

From there, Garland had a quality game in a win against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, as KJG’s Josh Cornelissen hit on, and the confidence looked to be all the way back for him physically and as an on-ball threat.

He had a robust 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and hit 5-of-6 attempts from three. The hesitation, change of pace and deep range from Garland took center stage in that one for him, and he, Collin Sexton and Jarrett Allen came up big for the Cavs against Portland.

Garland had 10 assists as well in that contest, and his dishes both on lobs to bigs and for spray-outs were significant and came up timely for Cleveland’s offense.

Additionally, in Cleveland’s win at the Raptors, while it was far from pretty for the Cavs, who were essentially having to claw back all night, it was another impressive outing from Garland, thanks to his second half. He had only four points in the first half then, but Garland in that one finished out with 21 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter to help the Cavaliers steal a W, frankly, and his eight assists helped the club immensely.

Garland was big-time for the Wine and Gold down the stretch in that contest, and even in a game with four turnovers, he, along with the team, showed great resilience. And Garland was instrumental in a comeback win.

He was fearless, made some terrific passes on the interior to the bigs, in particular, and heated up in the fourth, seemingly becoming more aggressive as the game progressed, and the Cavs benefited from that.

The gyst is, it’s awesome to see Garland seemingly have his groove back, both as a playmaker and versatile scorer for the Cavaliers.