Just like many other NBA teams at the moment, the Cleveland Cavaliers are without a number of players because of COVID-19 issues/them being in health and safety protocols. A few key contributors, such as Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Isaac Okoro, have been out for that for Cleveland, and the Cavaliers ended up having to sign three players via the league’s altered 10-day hardship exception.
Hopefully, COVID-19-related issues don’t linger too much into January, but I would anticipate the Cavs, like many other teams, to be shorthanded for some upcoming games still here.
The Cavaliers did find some ways to get themselves back into things in their loss on Wednesday at the Boston Celtics, and at one point cut Boston’s lead to single digits, on the plus side.
That said, the likes of Jaylen Brown and Robert Williams, and Jayson Tatum in some stretches throughout, were simply too much for that iteration of the Cavs, as KJG’s Josh Cornelissen hit on. Cleveland was again without Mobley, Allen and Okoro, from a defensive standpoint, especially; Boston has a bunch of players in protocols too, it was just not quite as impactful in that game yet.
Looking past that, the Cavs have the Toronto Raptors on Sunday at home, and then from there, the Cavaliers are on the road at the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday, and have a back-to-back at the Washington Wizards and host the Atlanta Hawks on New Year’s Eve on Friday. Next Sunday, they’ll then have the Indiana Pacers at home, too.
While we’ll again have to see when players such as Allen and Mobley eventually return, in upcoming games with the Cavaliers still likely largely depleted, it’s apparent to me that Cleveland needs Darius Garland to stay very aggressive. There will be some off stretches, one would assume, such as in Boston, but it’s imperative that plays out.
The Cavs must have a still-aggressive Garland here with the group still likely very depleted in these upcoming games.
To be clear, I want Garland in general to be assertive, and he’s been more this season, and even without Sexton for most of the season, he’s done a good job of finding balance between setting up others in their preferred spots and creating his own offense.
On the year, Garland has had that Year 3 leap, to a large degree, many were expecting from him, and has had 19.4 points and 7.3 assists per contest. He’s connected on a still-robust 38.6 percent from three on 6.7 attempts per outing, too, and in Garland’s last 10 games, he’s canned 45.0 percent of his deep attempts.
And as we expressed, with Cleveland being still severely shorthanded for some upcoming games here in the next week-plus, you would think, the Cavaliers need Garland to be all the more aggressive as a shot creator. On a positive note, Okoro is questionable on Sunday versus Toronto (conditioning), and has been cleared out of protocols, but at the same time, Cedi Osman was reportedly placed into protocols on Saturday.
Granted, there will again be some off stretches for Garland, to the last point, given the workload. That’s to be expected, whether or not Ricky Rubio starts alongside Garland on Sunday/other games next week, which I don’t believe should happen from the jump; Osman is again out now, though, so maybe Denzel Valentine is in at the 2 temporarily.
Regardless, for feasibly a 4 or 5-game span ahead, the Cavs are going to need Garland to likely be shooting in the ball park of 19-20 shots, as opposed to 13-15 normally.
Now, I’m not suggesting Garland just guns, but as opposed to normally when the Cavs have other guys to realistically shoulder the load, and with the team usually being very balanced, Garland will need to carry the offense as a scorer for some stretches.
If Cleveland can find ways to use team defense and savvy help to generate turnovers, that’ll help get out and run more, and could aid guys such as Lauri Markkanen and Okoro, when he’s back, for example.
Generally speaking, however, in this upcoming batch of games, I’d expect Garland to be looking for his shot a bunch. And perhaps in some stretches in his minutes off the bench, Rubio can again try to look for Garland for perimeter looks, as a counter to interior/cutting feeds.
Garland was 2-of-8 from deep at Boston, but that was this first game with the team so depleted, and if Cleveland can hold things together defensively, maybe mixed in with some zone, they can find a way to snag a few wins before the usual guys return. This Toronto game is one where the opponent is reportedly even more shorthanded as the Cavaliers, really, for context.
But again, to me, Cleveland needs DG to be somewhat more score-first in a set of games upcoming here with the group so depleted.