Cavs can alleviate pressure on Donovan Mitchell with catalyst Darius Garland: ‘He’s our electricity’

Donovan Mitchell’s start on Saturday was fast, but as the game went on, the Cleveland Cavaliers showed that they don’t have to rely on their six-time All-Star. It was Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Sam Merrill, and Jaylon Tyson who did the job as Mitchell picked his spots in the Cavs’ bounce-back 146-134 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday afternoon.

While Merrill and Tyson’s defensive toughness on Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, and company stood out, Garland’s connection with the bigs on the other end is trending in the right direction. Mobley and Allen have been on the receiving end of pocket passes and shovel feeds in the short roll, and rewarding the duo has been a point of emphasis for Cleveland. Since New Year’s week, Garland has assisted on 21 of their shots; Allen’s got 15 made field goals, and Mobley’s had six.

“I mean, it just makes it easier for us,” Mobley said postgame. “I think it starts with us setting a good screen, and then it just gets him downhill. From there, he’s been making the right decisions. This game, they kept playing back, and he just kept shooting floaters. The next game, they might be up. He’s got to keep making the best decisions for us, and I think he does that night in and night out.”

“Evan was 8-for-8 at the rim, played with force, but DG was the old DG,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We need more of those games from him. He’s our motor. He’s our electricity.”

Sam Merrill chimed in and called Garland the team’s “catalyst.” The soon-to-be 26-year-old deflected to give Mobley and Allen the credit Saturday.

“It’s really not even about me, it’s about both of them,” Garland said. “They work so well hand in hand with each other. We haven’t had as many big-to-big lobs, but I mean, when they’re in the pocket, they’re both looking for each other. So it’s pretty good just to have both of them out there on the offensive end. Defensively, you know what they do defensively. So if y’all watch basketball, y’all know what it is. It helps everybody.”

What’s more notable, however, is Mobley and Allen returning the favor. Garland has been doing a great job of getting off the ball and getting behind opponents in the half-court. Mobley has actually passed it to him more than vice versa over the last two weeks, and the results have been promising with Garland’s 16 field-goal makes from Mobley and Allen on high efficiency (13-of-18 in the paint coming into Saturday).

“Just to create some separation,” Garland told ClutchPoints in his postgame scrum. “There’s a lot of back doors. Sometimes that’s starting to come along a little bit, and then they can just hold on to it and go to another action. Especially with me and Don out there at the same time.

“It’s hard to guard both actions when two really good guards are on the floor at the same time. And it gets the bigs moving, gets the defense moving, we get some easy shots, get into the paint, look for sprayouts, look for lobs, and that’s our offense.”

Mobley knows it makes Cleveland that much better when he’s finding those openings.

“A lot of guys try to deny us, and him not standing at the top of the key, him doing a back cut, gets into the next action,” Mobley said. “And a lot of times, recently, he’s been getting the ball off the back cut, and that puts him in the paint right there. And from there it’s just like a pick-and-roll, and he can shoot the floater or hit the big or kick out.”

Garland scored 22 points on 10-of-13 from the field. He made one of three triple tries, but the rest of his shots all came within the arc. Getting downhill is a specialty of his when he’s healthy, so this could be a sign that his toe may be improving. He got Rudy Gobert on multiple isolations by going over the top, showcasing different gears and side-to-side motion that’s made him one of the most dynamic guards in the NBA.

“Just to get me going a little bit, if I could get a floater, it’s like my bread and butter now,” Garland said. “So if I see one go, I feel like the rest of them are going to go. Then, from there, they have to help up. So the lobs are there, the kick-outs are there. Then, the pocket becomes a little bit easier for me to hit for the bigs, and that’s when they go get to do their thing as well. So it opens up a lot for everybody.”

“He gets it up pretty quick, and he gets it up in the air – felt like he never missed that last year,” Merrill added. “Took him maybe a little bit to get into that rhythm again to start this season, him coming back. But it looks really good right now.”

Atkinson is excited to see the flashes of Garland’s true self. He’s had “great empathy” for him while coming back from his injury.

“Might have been the best flash that I’ve seen because of the change of direction and getting the mismatch and just obliterating the mismatch and then the balance on the shot, the floaters,” Atkinson said. “You’ve got to shoot them against Rudy. It’s not like, “Oh yeah, take it to Rudy’s chest.’ You’ve got to make those floaters.”

Garland’s bounce-back performance against Minnesota and going into Takeover DG mode in Indianapolis are positive signs. If he can continue to put forth these types of efforts, it’ll allow Mitchell to exhale and Allen and Mobley to eat.

“If we [have] average Darius, we don’t win that game,” Atkinson said. “That’s kind of where we are. We need him to be elite. We need him to be All-Star level for us to make that jump this year.”

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