The NBA has failed Darius Garland. Not just Garland, but players like Jimmy Butler, James Harden and Anthony Davis too, all of whom are deserving All-Stars left off of the rosters. The NBA has hundreds more players in it than when the All-Star Game was first designed, yet the number of All-Stars has never risen above 12. It needs to be 15 players. Garland is having an All-Star season, but never had a chance in a star-studded Eastern Conference. When the NBA announced its All-Star Reserves last night, Garland’s name was nowhere to be seen.
2022-23 NBA East All-Star reserves: Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Bam Adebayo, Julius Randle, DeMar DeRozan, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2023
What was Garland’s response to being snubbed? He absolutely flambeed the Memphis Grizzlies on TNT Thursday night, beating his 2019 NBA Draft counterpart (and All-Star Reserve) Ja Morant to the tune of 32 points and 11 assists. He was in control of the offense the entire game and clearly looked like the best player on the court.
It wasn’t just Garland playing well, however. After multiple losses recently where the Cavs’ bench played extremely poorly, they were on fire last night. Cedi Osman shot 4-for-8 from deep for 21 points, Ricky Rubio canned three triples to get to 13, and the Cavs’ bench outscored the deep Grizzlies bench 43-28.
Evan Mobley continues to impress with his all-around game. He was everywhere defensively inside and put up 17 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three stocks (steals + blocks), and Jarrett Allen was the perfect pick-and-roll partner for Garland and dropped 18 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and four stocks. It was an all-around dominant performance for the Cavs in a 128-113 win.