1 stud, 1 dud from Cavs thrilling win over Celtics Wednesday night

1 stud from Cavs win over Celtics: Darius Garland

The story of the night heading into the game was Darius Garland, returning from an eye injury after missing all but 13 minutes of the season. The story of the night heading out of the game is also Garland, as he came back with a bang and led the Cavs with 29 points.

On a night when every other Cleveland player shot a combined 6-for-28 (21.4 percent) from deep, Garland became the latest Cavalier to hit at least 5 3-pointers in a game. He shot 5-for-11 (45.5 percent) as a threat both to pull-up and spacing the court to give Donovan Mitchell room to work.

Garland’s passing was also back, as he was sharp in setting up teammates and hitting the Cavs’ bigs, dishing out 12 assists including this zip to Kevin Love inside leading to the rare dunk for the veteran big:

Garland had a little bit of rust to shake off, and he was taken advantage of defensively at times, but overall he was the best Cavs player on the court, returning and immediately being up to the task against an elite foe. He chipped in five rebounds and three steals for a complete game, and the pairing of Garland and Mitchell moving forward should strike fear into opponents.