Will Darius Garland’s return to the lineup fix all the Cleveland Cavaliers’ issues?

Will Darius Garland’s return to the lineup fix all the Cleveland Cavaliers’ issues?

We got to talk a little Cleveland Cavaliers basketball. Before we do that, I want to remind everybody that you can experience Charge basketball at Public Hall this season. The Cleveland Charges, the NBA G League affiliate for the Cavaliers, and they’re back in action for their 5th season in Cleveland with Charge alumni like Dean Wade, Sam Merrill, Natequan Tomlin, showing that League is the home to future stars in the NBA. Charge basketball is the best option for affordable family fun in the land with fan giveaways, exciting theme nights, postgame play autographs, and more. I’ll be there tonight, tip off at 7 o’clock against Grand Rapid. You can get tickets if you want them at Clevelandcharge.com. Before we dive into the actual Cavs topic, guys, I want to just highlight two things that happened in the community yesterday. Evan Mobley held his first ever annual gala for the kids. He was, uh, raising awareness and money for foster kids, homes, foundations through his foundation yesterday. So shout out to Evan for putting on a Great event. Jarrett Allen also held his 9th annual Math and meals event where he gifted 25 local kids and families a shopping spree at Giant Eagle to get their Thanksgiving food. Just two really cool things that are happening in the community. I know we talked a lot about these guys as basketball players, but I just want to give him a little shout out for giving back to the community as well. On the court though, guys, Darius Garland may make his return tonight. He’s still a game-time decision. They did not have a shootaround yesterday, but on Wednesday, Darius went through a full pregame warm-up. Kenny Atkinson said he was very close to playing, very close to being returning or returning to the court, and I saw his parents at the game. Usually, your parents don’t come to a game if you’re not very close on the precipice. So there’s a chance that we can see Darius Garland tonight against the Indiana Pacers. And I’m curious from your guys’ standpoint, and Dustin, we’ll start with you. Does DG fix all the Cavs issues? No, no, he, he doesn’t fix all the issues, but he certainly brings back, uh, a lot. I mean, he brings back a lot of offense, uh, obviously some defense as well, and just, just another, another body that you feel confident that he, you, you know what you’re gonna get out of Garland like when he plays. Some of these other guys that are bench players that are coming off, you know, you don’t know what you’re gonna get on a, on a weekly, weekly, nightly basis. Um, so I’m excited to see it. And here’s the thing though, guys, I mean, I’m gonna be on pins and needles. Hoping that his stupid toe, — I’ll be holds
— up the rest of the year. Yeah, the rest of the year I’m gonna hold my breath, guys. You ever had a toe injury? I had turf toe, same thing here, so you didn’t have surgery like you did, — but I don’t really
— go away, guys. Let me cut you off for one second because Mary Kay just put out a tweet. Hopefully this is nothing. But uh she said Brown’s Miles Garrett sat out Friday’s practice with an illness, so no injury thankfully, — but there is a
— bug going around, sniffles, yeah, hopefully he’s able to play Sunday. That’s all she said. Get them antibiotics. It’s not a big deal to miss. Here’s how I would address that. If it was raining, would Superman not save someone in peril? He would. Superman’s going to be there. I don’t care if it’s sniffing. I thought it was worthy of mentioning. It is worthy of mentioning, but there is not a chance in hell. This guy, this guy’s not. This guy is chasing. He’s got to be coughing up immortal greatness. Yes, he’s not Peyton Hillis. He’ll play. He’ll be there. Oh wow, I’m sorry, Peyton, but you, — but you should have played with the
— strep throat. That’s true. Oh, I thought you were referring to him being Superman and saving. Two people from drowning. Well, that is true. And, and, uh, God bless him for that. — He
— is. He is a hero. The 15 most riveting minutes of US UCSS history is Peyton telling that story when he was a guest on our show. I knew what happened. I was at the edge of my seat. It was incredible hearing him tell that story. So Darius Garland, does he solve everything for the Cavs? No, no. Does he, will he make Jared Allen tougher? Evan Mobley. More active on the boards, more, more of an inside presence. No, he fixes a lot of things. I am sick. You stole my, what I was going to say on this. I’m just the rest of the year. I’m literally going to be holding my breath when Darius Garland is on the court. Yeah, I mean, that’s, I hope he plays tonight because otherwise the game’s an NW, a non-watcher. I mean, they’re playing the worst, they’re they’re playing the worst team in the league right now, Indiana. I’m going, I’m going tonight. — They
— have one win. Does Indy have one win? — I believe they still
— have one win. Has that ever happened where an NBA Finals team the next year is going into almost December with one win, — a Finals team from a
— year or two, man. They have, uh, 2 wins. No, they do have 2. I, I, they’re horrible. I’ve switched the way I think about this thing and. So, to me, I, I think if you wanna have an opportunity to win a championship, you’re gonna have to have Darius Garland play like He’s gonna have to play. And I know this is disrespect. It ain’t even disrespectful, but Kyrie, but he gotta be like on some Kyrie type stuff. Like he, he, you can’t continue to ask him to be like a third wheel because what we found out why he’s not been in the game, Evan Mobley has no ability to turn his game up like that. The only other guy besides Donovan Mitchell that can turn his game up and get to another level where I can get me 50 or I can go out here and I can just be on one tonight is, uh, uh, uh, Darius. The problem with it is, he’s, he’s smallish, um, and he has injury issues and his game is his quickness, his speed, his ability to get into the, uh, the paint and then create for other guys like a Jarrett Allen or get Mobley, uh, together. Now in that way, it will help them a lot because now Evan Mobley doesn’t have to be there, you know, at the top and people looking at him, he had to create his own dribble and create his own shots. But now, but Darius Garland to me. The only shot they gotta win in the championship is if Darius Garland plays like a max player. Let’s not get it twisted. He’s a max player. So if you got Donovan maxed out, you got Darius maxed out, and now Evan Mobley maxed out, if Mobley can’t give you and jump up to 25 and be a creator, then the next, the second best option is to just get a ball to Darius and you’re just gonna have to have him play out of his mind for a couple of games. Won a championship with the guard, two small guards, but we, we’re here though, you see what I’m saying? Like it ain’t, it ain’t like you can do something to change your team. Yeah, that’s the way we’re constructed. You, it’s constructed like that. You’re here. They didn’t make no change, the changes, so now you better maximize it. The Cavs was ISO before they won ISO. They say nobody can win ISO, especially the way Golden State moved the ball, you know, the Cavs did. I said, no, we got the two best ISO dudes in the Milky Way, so we’re gonna get. The ball to LeBron and then we’re gonna hand it to Kyrie and y’all better hope y’all hit enough shots on the outside to get it done and they had to go back to back 40 40s and you know, during the game. Now, could the Cavs sustain and win that way long term when the Warriors would no, but if you want an opportunity to win, sometimes you gotta just maximize what you got cause they — ain’t gonna get no better when it
— is unconventional bull. I’m with you. Like, you know, historically it hasn’t happened. That certainly does not mean it can’t. But I, I do think the, the, the point that you touched on that I would want to drive home as well is I said, can he make Jarrett Allen tougher? No. Can he make Evan Mobley? But he does take a lot of pressure off Evan Mobley when he’s playing because right now everybody’s looking at Evan to create offense and he’s just not that, he’s not going to. He can in spurts here and there. He’s not going to carry a team with his. Offense. But when Darius is in the game, Evan looks a lot better. He can, he’s free to move. He doesn’t have to, you, everybody’s not looking at him to fill the first line of the of the scoresheet. So, I, I do think he makes this team considerably better. Whether or not they can win a championship this way, bull, if they do it, they’ll be the pioneers. I don’t think they can because, you know, you mentioned Kyrie and LeBron as, uh, primary ball handlers, but one of them was 6’7 and was a freight train. You know, we’re, we’re under 6. 7. We’re undersized. We’re, you know, we’re, we’re extremely undersized and, and Bull, I don’t know the answer to your question. When was the last time, if ever, like the Pistons, you know, they had a smaller backcourt that was heavily relied upon during their title run. But like — that
— was a weird team. — It was a weird team
— and they were tough, man. They were, they punch you in the mouth. The Warriors. So I guess you could argue the Warriors when they won without Durant, but Steph Curry is the greatest shooter of all time, right? And we’re not. We don’t have that. Yeah, that’s the exception. Klay Thompson was like at that, at that point — he was out of his mind with his 3 point shoot just
— soft to Charmin. I just, I hate it because they’re they’re, and, and it’s not just the lack of physicality. It’s we can’t stay healthy, um, outside of, outside of Donovan Mitchell. I, I don’t think anybody’s a war daddy. I agree. I um, but I think, I think Don is. But so Kenny didn’t, I read somewhere Kenny challenged the team. Before the game by saying, look, if you guys want to win this thing, you’re gonna have to bring your A game. And from the tap, I just thought, Houston was the team that looked like they showed up ready to play, and the Cavs made a little bit of a late run to sort of get it close, but like outside of that, Donovan Mitchell had 2 points going into the 4th quarter. I mean, Houston did a really good job taking him completely out of the game. Oh my God, you can’t have Donovan with 2 points through 3 quarters. That had to be his worst 3 quarter stretch. This Houston is my kind of team that I like. I like. I like Houston too. — I love the brand of basketball that
— they play. Book this. The, the Cavs’ best lineup is Jared Allen. Coming off the bench, they need to find another dude because here’s the thing, at least if you’re not gonna, if you’re’t gonna get out physical, if you’re gonna get beat up and you’re gonna be soft, then there’s no reason that I need to play you, right? Like I could play, I could bring you off the bench and match you up with the bigs coming off the bench, but what I need to lean into is saying, you know what. Let’s just be lethal offensively. Let’s just be like, I can’t, I score 130. Let, let’s score 150. Who give me, let’s score 150. I, we’re gonna spread this rock out. We’re gonna use for nuggets from the 80s. Yeah, we’re gonna, we’re gonna use, and we’re gonna use Evan Mobley at the 5, and then we’re gonna figure out what we’re gonna do. Somebody. I like how Tomlin played. I, I, he needs to get more minutes for me. I don’t know if he could be a shooter in the corner and knock things down, but I like his, I like his energy. I don’t know if it’s Sam Merrill is a question. I don’t know if Max Strus, — but
— listen, man, well, Struce is gonna come back, and I think it’s gonna be a huge impact for the team because it’s gonna add the shooting and just he’s a veteran who knows how to win. And he’s got a little dog to him too. He does. I mean, I, I would say he’s a, he’s a, he’s a tough, tough dude. Um, he, he just doesn’t have the skill like Donovan or some of these other guys. I mean, I wish, I wish Mobley had some of the toughness that, that Struce has. But look, Merrill, Merrill needs to get more run. Craig Porter needs more run. Um, I think, I, I honestly think DeAndre Hunter, can be a big time scorer for this team. I do too. I like him. I like him, move it. Like, listen, — Jarrett
— Allen, you, you, the, the guy. I love you, brother. I love, I love everything about his I think he’s an absolute sweetheart of a human being and, and all that stuff, and he’s talented and he’s a big kid, but he is just not productive, just not productive. He’s not, and, and what I mean by that is it’s not consistent. Like he had 30 against the Heat, and then the next night he has like 2 points and 2 boards. You, you, — you can’t gauge if
— I was his height, — I’d get 6 rebounds just by standing
— there.

Indiana Pacers (2-13, 14th in the Eastern Conference) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (10-6, fourth in the Eastern Conference)

Cleveland; Friday, 7 p.m. EST

Cavaliers -9.5; over/under is 226.5

BOTTOM LINE: The Cleveland Cavaliers play the Indiana Pacers in an NBA Cup in-season tournament group play matchup.

The Cavaliers are 4-0 against division opponents. Cleveland ranks sixth in the Eastern Conference with 12.4 offensive rebounds per game led by Evan Mobley averaging 2.5.

The Pacers are 1-5 in Eastern Conference play. Indiana has a 0-8 record in games decided by at least 10 points.

The Cavaliers are shooting 45.8% from the field this season, 2.4 percentage points lower than the 48.2% the Pacers allow to opponents. The Pacers average 11.6 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.6 fewer made shots on average than the 13.2 per game the Cavaliers allow.

TOP PERFORMERS: Mobley is averaging 18.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, four assists and 1.5 blocks for the Cavaliers. De’Andre Hunter is averaging 25.0 points over the last 10 games. | https://www.espn.com/nba/preview/_/gameId/401809790

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