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.
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Midway through the third quarter, Donovan Mitchell was having a poor shooting night. He had missed nine of his 11 shots for just six points, with Grizzlies wing Dillon Brooks doing a solid job of denying him the ball and forcing him into tough shots. Brooks wasn’t content just playing solid defense, however; when Brooks missed a layup and found himself on the ground beneath Mitchell, he decided to punch Donovan in a tender area. Don responded by pegging Brooks with the ball, and the fracas escalated from there:
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1621333727543721984
First, it was clear to everyone watching (including the referees) that Brooks intentionally struck Mitchell – everyone other than Reggie Miller, that is, who went on a diatribe about not ascribing intent to Brooks. The refs ejected Brooks on a flagrant 2 foul, while Mitchell was ejected for throwing the basketball at another player.
After the game, Mitchell requested to sit at the podium and address the media. He spoke to Brooks’ history with Mitchell and around the league, his track record of dirty plays, and implored the NBA to do something about it:
#Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell on Dillon Brooks
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) February 3, 2023
“The NBA has to do something about it.” pic.twitter.com/T0elQEXNKi
While the games go on, so does NBA trade season. The Trade Deadline is less than a week away, and the Cavaliers continue to look around the league for potential trade partners. One place they could look is north of the border and consider making an international trade to add help on the wing. We discussed whether that trade is worth making on the website this morning.
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It was a night of stars in the NBA, with Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the way with 54 points in a comeback win in the second game of the TNT doubleheader. The Milwaukee Bucks came screaming back to beat the LA Clippers 106-105, and Antetokounmpo had a cool 54 points and 19 rebounds.
The New York Knicks hosted the Miami Heat and got the win, 106-104, with Julius Randle riding his All-Star selection with 23 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals; Jimmy Butler, one of the biggest snubs this year, couldn’t thumb his nose at the voters like Garland did; he had just 10 points and 5-of-13 shooting. The Heat fell back to 2.5 games behind Cleveland in the East standings.
Finally, the Los Angeles Lakers had a comeback victory of their own, coming from down 18 points to secure a 112-111 win in Indiana. The Lakers are just 3 games out of fourth in the Western Conference (although currently tied for 12th). Anthony Davis responded to his All-Star snub by dropping 31 points and 14 rebounds with some absolutely nasty defense.
LeBron Tracker: Speaking of the Lakers, LeBron James had 26 points in the win. That leaves him with just 63 points to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time scoring record.
Coming up: The Cavaliers hit the road for a back-to-back this weekend, with a matinee in Indiana on Sunday to kick things off.