sore big toes<\/a>, and it all feels rather ominous. <\/p>\nCleveland committed 21 careless turnovers during Monday\u2019s 136-104 loss to the Thunder, off which the defending champs scored \u2014 dunk \u2014 23 easy points. To say the Cavs missed Garland, their All-Star table-setter, is more explainer than excuse. But to see that they missed him this much?<\/p>\n
Troubling, to say the least.<\/p>\n
Cleveland rosters three other former All-Stars (Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen) who should, in theory, blur another\u2019s absence. And Oklahoma City played without four rotation players, two starters and one former All-Star (forward Jalen Williams) of its own against the Cavs. But the more time Garland misses, the better we understand that this ecosystem, like its point guard, is more delicate than its contemporaries\u2019. And the more fans struggle to square two conflicting ideas. <\/p>\n
The Cavs need Garland to meet their ceiling, but Garland struggles to consistently meet their needs. <\/p>\n
The seventh-year point guard missed his 17th game of the season on Monday, which began with a positive spin of his prognosis. One day after the team announced that Garland would only miss seven to 10 days with a sprained right big toe \u2014 no, not the toe that required surgery this offseason and kept him out from June until November\u2014 coach Kenny Atkinson told reporters he felt fortunate to hear the news. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we dodged a bullet,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cNot ideal, obviously, but it could\u2019ve been a lot worse.\u201d <\/p>\n
The numbers support Atkinson\u2019s sigh of relief. Since Cleveland hired him, the Cavs have swapped their defense-first identity for a philosophy based on pace, space and, when the offense is humming, more defensive grace. Shoot more 3s; score more points; set your defense after made baskets. <\/p>\n
The plan worked when the Cavs won 64 games and posted the league\u2019s best offense a year ago. But everything makes more sense when Garland, who played 75 games that season, is available. <\/p>\n
Allen catches more lobs. Mitchell faces fewer double teams. Neither he nor Mobley have to work as hard to score. <\/p>\n
With him on the court last year, Cleveland\u2019s offense scored 4.1 more points per 100 possessions than it did without him, which marked the largest difference among any high-minute player on the team (Mitchell\u2019s offensive delta: -0.9 points per 100). <\/p>\n
When Garland sits out, however, Allen drifts more often. Mitchell and Mobley force more difficult shots. The rest of us scratch our head. <\/p>\n
With Garland recovering from toe surgery, Cleveland has limped to a 24-20 start during which its offensive rating has dropped nearly five points per 100 possessions from last year. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s played just 27 of those 44 games, mostly through discomfort. Even as Garland catalyzed last week\u2019s 133-107 win over the 76ers in Philadelphia, the ESPN broadcast reported that his left toe felt only 70% healed. <\/p>\n
And he finished that game with 20 points (62% shooting), seven assists and one more injured toe.<\/p>\n
Two games later, he watched from the bench as Cleveland posted its fifth-lowest point total of the season. <\/p>\n
No excuses, but no surprise, either. Six of the Cavs\u2019 10 worst scoring performances this year have come with Garland sitting out. Why? <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a point guard,\u201d forward De\u2019Andre Hunter told cleveland.com on Monday. \u201cThe point guard controls the game. So of course, not having that person out there to control the game makes it a little tougher.\u201d<\/p>\n
In short, the Cavs need Garland more than other teams need other All-Stars. We see the proof in postseason game logs, where Garland\u2019s numbers \u2013 field goal percentages, turnover rates and assist rates \u2013 have regressed from regular-season norms for three straight years, and Cleveland\u2019s offense has followed suit. Save for last year\u2019s first round, the Garland-era Cavs have never equaled their regular-season offensive rating in a playoff series.<\/p>\n
We know that Garland\u2019s injuries, which have hampered him for two straight postseasons, play a role. And we are watching a similar story unfold through 44 games of this season.<\/p>\n
Once Garland heals from his latest health scare \u2026 then what? His surgically repaired toe, which reportedly took seven months to heal 70%, will stop bothering him? His playoff numbers will match his regular-season stats for the first time? The Eastern Conference\u2019s seventh seed will morph into a 64-win giant again? <\/p>\n
The Cavs can wait, and their fans can cross fingers. But all Garland could do was watch his teammates struggle against the Thunder on Monday. <\/p>\n
Consider each turnover a reminder of both his importance and fragility. And consider how owner Dan Gilbert, who pays the league\u2019s largest luxury tax bill, must\u2019ve felt watching that performance. <\/p>\n
When Garland is healthy, Cleveland can score enough to cash Gilbert\u2019s checks. We just don\u2019t know the next time Garland will be, or how the Cavs can achieve their goals if he isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have to, whether he is (healthy) or not,\u201d forward Jaylon Tyson said Monday. \u201cThat\u2019s how this league is, and they weren\u2019t healthy either. We can\u2019t use that excuse.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 All Darius Garland could do was watch as his teammates slung passes out of bounds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,359,3846,62638,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-550930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers-2024-2025","13":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","14":"tag-milwaukee-bucks-2025","15":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115933045726428513","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}