1 stud and 1 dud for Cavs in their win over Spurs on Wednesday

Cavs stud: Darius Garland

Before Wednesday night’s game, Darius Garland missed Cleveland’s last four games with lower back soreness. It was clear what Cleveland missed in those four games when Garland was not on the floor. At times, the offense appeared stagnant as no one could run the offense quite like Garland.

In those four games Garland missed, the offense averaged 99 points per game. While the offense scored only six more points last night, Garland’s presence was evident throughout the night and it is easy to see why Garland was selected to his first career All-Star game.

Not only is Garland a constant threat to score, but his passing ability has improved immensely this season. Garland has perfected the lob pass to big men Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley and is also good at catching shooters out on the perimeter.

Garland got the Cavs rolling last night in the second quarter with a team-high nine points and scored nine more points in the third quarter to help the Cavaliers keep their lead. Garland was an ultra-efficient 8-of-9 from the floor in the second and third quarters, including 2-of-2 from three-point range.

Garland connected on 12-of-15 shots (80 percent) for 27 points and dished out six assists though he did turn the ball over six times. Nevertheless, it was still a fantastic performance from the third-year guard.

Now with the presence of LeVert in the lineup, Garland has to be excited, as teams cannot guard him too heavily, or he can find his new backcourt mate who is plenty capable of making teams pay as well. We’ll have to see if LeVert eventually does begin starting games, but either way, he’ll get plenty of minutes with Garland, one would assume.

While the Cavaliers picked up their seventh straight win at home last night, not all members of the Wine and Gold had their best performances.