On Wednesday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers tipped off their 2022-23 season at the Toronto Raptors, which resulted in a 108-105 loss.
It was a contest that was a back-and-forth affair between two evenly-matched teams, which one could’ve foreseen coming in. These are both young, up-and-coming squads in the Eastern Conference, and the game lived up to its billing, as one of the more compelling NBA opening matchups of the new campaign.
The Cavaliers were behind early, losing by six after the first quarter, before having a strong second, leading to them taking a six-point lead into halftime.
Cleveland ultimately would be up eight going into the fourth, and then, Toronto started really knocking three-point looks in the fourth quarter after penetration, combined with over-helping at times from Cleveland led to open treys. In the fourth, the Raps outscored the Cavs 32-21, leading to a three-point win.
Granted, it was rough to see Darius Garland leave and eventually not return because of a left eye injury after he was poked there near the end of the first half, which assuredly affected the game.
He didn’t have it going to that point, but nobody wanted to see that, let alone in the season opener. He reportedly has a laceration on the “inside of his eyelid,” per J.B. Bickerstaff and via Kelsey Russo of The Athletic. Bickerstaff then stated in that report how Garland’s head was fine, but ‘he was cut and bleeding bad'” from that, via Russo.
Following those comments from Wednesday night, it was a relief that per a Cavs team statement on Thursday night, Garland’s exam “revealed no structural damage and surgery was not required.” His status will be updated in coming days, via the Cavaliers release.
As for more on the opener itself, Cleveland did get some quality performances from their bench, namely Cedi Osman and Kevin Love. Osman had17 big points, connected on three triples, and in the game, was a plus-seven. Love didn’t have it going from three, but did have seven rebounds in his 21 minutes, and his spacing is always impactful.
From there, Caris LeVert did a nice job, with 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds, and handled more of the share of playmaking with Garland out. Jarrett Allen’s play on the interior, and defensively in shot altering, were bright spots, also.
Although, what was likely the biggest positive from this one, was the deput of Donovan Mitchell. This offseason’s prize trade acquisition from the Utah Jazz had a heck of an opening outing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and both from a scoring and playmaking perspective, was effective. He demonstrated plenty in his offensive repertoire, too.
Mitchell’s full array was on display on Wednesday night in the Cavaliers’ close loss to the Raptors in the 2022-23 opener.
Mitchell started his first Cavs game slow, as he was letting things come to him a bit, particularly in the first quarter. With him in a new situation and a new team, I was fine with that, and while Garland was gunning somewhat, Mitchell’s approach then wasn’t concerning, as one had to assume he’d eventually get a bunch of his own opportunities.
He got rolling along in the second quarter, as he then had 12 points on four-of-seven shooting, to go with four assists in nearly nine minutes in that time. He was getting to the basket with quickness, combined with utilizing deceleration at times, and one could see how he can create open looks for others with his sprayout passes off his driving gravity.
For the game overall, Mitchell had 31 points on 12-of-21 from the field, and notched nine assists, to three turnovers.
Now, from a scoring perspective, he shot only two-of-eight from three, however, Mitchell’s rim pressure, pick-and-roll play at times and transition abilities were all on display throughout the game. He was 10-of-13 from two, largely due to his knack for change-of-pace leading to rim looks, and he shot five-of-six from the foul line.
Coupled with that from him, it was encouraging to see Mitchell as a quality playmaker in hitting shooters, something he got better at over his time with the Utah Jazz.
When he drew in defenders at the rim, Mitchell’s sprayouts led to open looks for Cedi Osman and Dean Wade, among others, and going forward, we should continue to see more and more of that. And as a counter, Mitchell hitting Evan Mobley in the lane for a look inside was a natural counter as well; that look is something to keep an eye on throughout games here and there, as well.
Granted, we’re obviously hopeful Garland is fully recovered from his eye injury in time, given what he means to this group.
But, it was at least great that Mitchell’s full offensive array, at least for the overall scoring and playmaking element, was on display from the jump with the Cavaliers. It’ll still take time for the team to iron some things out with him getting acclimated, however, the skill set is there for him to be a big-time difference-maker for these Cavs.