After enduring a grueling stretch in their schedule that resulted in five straight losses, injuries aside, the Cleveland Cavaliers are back in the win column. Saturday night’s game was a win against the Orlando Magic, a game that the Cavs seemed to control the entire time in a 105-92 victory.
This has been the biggest improvement for the Wine and Gold team this season, in staying competitive with the upper echelon of the league like they did against the Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix Suns, and the Washington Wizards, while beating the teams they are supposed to beat. Orlando qualifies as one of those clubs, clearly.
But either way, discussing the game more, it was a great combination of offense and defense from the team. Continuing to display their team-first style of play, the Cavaliers had 28 assists on 41 made baskets, which included 14 made three-point shots on 39 attempts, an area they have been up and down in during the season.
The team got major contributions from Lauri Markkanen, who had his second 20-point game in three games, and Jarrett Allen continued his dominance on the interior with a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double. Plus, Evan Mobley had a 13-point, nine-rebound, four-block performance in his return from injury, and Allen and Mobley had three assists apiece, for what it’s worth.
The biggest contributor in yesterday’s win, however, was Darius Garland, who was the stud performer from that contest for Cleveland. He continues to get the job done for the Wine and Gold, and appears to really be coming into his own for the Cavaliers.
Cavs stud: Darius Garland
With the amount of talk that Darius Garland received during the offseason, many looked at this year as his leap year. This was looked at as the year for Garland to assert himself into the conversation with other young stars and so far he’s done so.
In the win over the Magic, Garland posted a season-high 26 points to go along with 11 assists, shooting 52.4 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three on seven attempts. This was the perfect game for Garland to get his offense back on track after a couple of inefficient shooting nights.
Exploiting the inexperience of the Magic and using Allen’s verticality as a weapon, Garland took advantage which led to indecisions by the Magic bigs. If the Magic would commit to the Allen roll, the floater was there for Garland and if they committed more to Garland, the Allen lob was there.
His ability to keep the ball on a string and “freeze” his defenders also led to a couple of highlight-worthy plays.
The biggest talk of his play yesterday should be how he was able to weather the play of the Magic during the end of the first half and into the second half. After being subbed in with 6:57 left in the second quarter, Garland would score or assist on 18 of the team’s next 30 points in a run that ultimately put the Cavs in complete control of the game.
With Sexton out for the year, Garland is the guy that the Cavs have leaned on and his play has been great to watch despite certain circumstances. An increase in minutes, shot attempts, and aggression were all going to be a given and so far, Garland has lived up to the task in some cases.
It will be interesting to see how Garland continues the season and how teams continue to scheme him considering the lack of shot creation on the roster. He is the young leader of the team and it seems as the Cavs go as he goes.
Cavs dud: Ricky Rubio
It’s hard to find faults in a win but if a player has to be mentioned, it looks to be Ricky Rubio. His five-point performance is tied for the second-fewest points he’s scored in a game this season and though plus-minus should be taken with a grain of salt, his minus-6 was the lowest plus-minus on the team.
Rubio didn’t look like how he’s looked during his career year. As the Cavs have looked for Rubio for an extra scoring punch this season, he just wasn’t able to provide that on Saturday night. He seemed to play timid as the six shots he attempted on Saturday were the lowest amount he’s attempted in a game all season.
With how well he’s played this season, it’s fair to give him a pass for this performance then, which wasn’t even all that bad. Despite the low scoring, Rubio still had eight assists and impacted the game outside of scoring, which is weird to say for Rubio. It could have just been a case of Rubio letting others attack while playing more as a facilitator and it’s expected that he will play better next game.
Considering the injuries and strength of schedule, .500 through 20 games is a great sign for what’s to come in the future. The team plays hard and always fights to the end, buying into the system that head coach J.B. Bickerstaff put in.
As many players have said numerous times, this team has some dogs and should be respected by the rest of the league.