Without Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen Sunday night, the Cavaliers needed to figure out how to how to slow down a Timberwolves team with height (Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony Towns) and scoring punch (Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell). The Wine and Gold fell short against Minnesota 129-124 but it wasn’t because of Darius Garland who provided plenty of scoring with an NBA season-high 51 points and definitely measured up with the best in the league despite only standing just 6’1".
Garland was able to fill it up for 27 points in the 4th quarter as the Cavs came back from a 20-point deficit to only trail by 2 in the final minute before the Wolves hit their free throws to seal the victory on the road at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
“We had a conversation, but our conversations are always bigger than one night,” said Bickerstaff. “Trying to make sure that we're always on the same page and we always know where each other is coming from. What his expectations are and what our expectations are so there's never any gray area with us.”
JB Bickerstaff took his point guard aside before tipoff as his running mate Donovan Mitchell was out with an ankle injury. "He just told me to stay with it, he knew I was going thru some stuff,” said Garland. “It's a team thing, I just wanted to be there for my guys, they've always been there for me, so I just wanted to reciprocate the same thing. Just try and go out there and battle tonight.”
The All-Star said despite the pregame pep talk, his approach to the game didn’t change even with the Cavs missing three of their top eight players on Sunday night. It also didn’t change despite dealing with the aftereffects of his eye injury, a sore leg, and a sickness than affected him on their west trip.
“My mentality has always been the same since I stepped in, just go out there and be aggressive and try and win,” said Garland.
Lamar Stevens started for the injured Mitchell and backed Garland up with 15 points and 6 rebounds. The 3rd year pro was in awe of the heavy lifting his point guard did leading the ill-fated comeback against the Timberwolves.
“I've only been in the league 3 years but that was one of the most impressive performances I've ever seen,” said Stevens. “He just completely took over, I think he went unconscious. I was happy he was able to do that tonight, got that swag back.”
The Wine and Gold however have now dropped 4 straight after jumping out to an 8-1 start this season and have a big matchup looming with Milwaukee on the road Wednesday night. Even though it ended with a loss, Sunday’s effort could be a sign of things to come from Garland and a team that looks to measure up against a NBA Title favorite.
“Our main thing is just trying to get everybody healthy, try to rest from this long road trip and then get back on another note,” said Garland. “Just try to get a win in Milwaukee, it's a tough one but we're going to grind it out and see where the chips lay. This team is about grinding. Everybody came up and played really hard tonight so that's one thing I'll take with us, doesn't matter who we put in, everybody played really hard, everybody showed up in the stats, and tried to contribute to a win.”
The one thing his teammates did not contribute Sunday night however was a heads up that he was approaching the big 5-0 in the stat sheet but Garland thinks that another positive aspect of the Cavaliers on the young season.
“Nobody told me, no 50 ball watch, nothing,” said Garland. “That's our team though, we don't care about how many points you score. We want to win, that's the outcome that we want.”
The Wine and Gold will see if they can get that desired outcome Wednesday night when the tip off with the 10-2 Bucks at 8 PM in Milwaukee.