The Cavaliers need Darius Garland to overcome adversity one more time

A little over a year ago, around the time of the 2024 NBA All-Star break, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland was speechless.

Literally.

Recovering from a broken jaw suffered during an in-game collision, Garland’s mouth was wired shut, rendering him unable to speak or eat. The fractured jaw was one of a few setbacks for Garland last season, whose play on the court was also more quiet than the NBA had grown accustomed to.

In 2023-24, Garland posted his worst scoring average and field goal percentage since his rookie year, and the Cavaliers took a step back as well, winning 48 games a year after winning 51. In the playoffs, a still-recovering Garland looked like a shell of himself by the time Cleveland was bounced in five games in the second round by the Boston Celtics. 

All the adversity raised big-picture questions for Garland and the Cavs. Did injuries permanently rob him of his previous All-Star form? Could Garland and backcourt mate Donovan Mitchell coexist? Has the team reached a ceiling? 

One regular season later, and nearly all of those questions were answered.

Garland earned a second All-Star selection in February. And he and Mitchell thrived together, as Cleveland posted its second-highest win total in franchise history this season, earning the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

“I really started from the ground up in this organization,” Garland told NBC News in April before the start of the playoffs. “Watching it grow from the ground to now, hopefully a championship-caliber team, I’m super proud of staying with the process and believing in the process.”

The process has been a bumpy one for Garland and the Cavs.

His 2022 All-Star season ended in the play-in tournament. That summer, Cleveland acquired Mitchell, raising expectations for the franchise. But in Mitchell’s first year, the team lost in five games in the first round to the New York Knicks. And last offseason, after Mitchell signed an extension with the team, there were rumors about whether Garland wanted to remain his backcourt partner amid a disappointing finish to the season.

Instead of asking out, however, Garland sought out Mitchell in the summer, committed to learning how to better coexist with his co-star.

“I had a lot of talks with Don to see what he really likes, and figure out what I really want in this offense,” Garland said. 

In addition to those talks, Garland said he watched hours and hours of film to understand how he could better complement Mitchell when Mitchell was the one handling the ball. Garland especially studied the tape of Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, and has since tried to emulate how he moves without the ball to put pressure on defenses.

“Sometimes I have to make selfless cuts to get people open,” Garland said. “Sometimes I have to set a little ghost screen to get him downhill and create confusion for the defense. Just moving without the ball to help teammates get open shots.” 

Along with a new vision from head coach Kenny Atkinson, who was hired last June, Garland and the Cavaliers went to a new level this season. Cleveland posted a 9.2 net rating during the regular season, third-best in the NBA and the franchise’s best mark since 2009.

And Garland fine-tuned his role in the backcourt, trading off some scoring duties with Mitchell for more efficient play. Garland shot a career-best 47.2% from the field in the regular season, including 40.1% on 7.1 attempts a night from 3-point range. 

“It’s some really good basketball being played, everybody’s touching the rock, everybody’s enjoying their time on the floor together,” Garland said of his team’s success. “Our depth is insane. Sometimes you might (not) know their names but they’ll make three 3s right in front of your face. 

“I think the world should be excited to watch us play.” 

Midway through the first round, however, Garland hit another bump. A toe injury kept him out of the last two games of a sweep against the Miami Heat, and has cost him the first two games of the second round, in which the Cavaliers trail 0-2 against the Indiana Pacers.

While the sweep of the Heat to start the postseason was an impressive display of the dominance Cleveland has shown all year, Garland knows this team will ultimately be judged on whether it can improve its playoff finish from a year ago. He said what he’s learned from the Cavaliers’ last two postseasons is the importance of the little things, such as avoiding turnovers, converting fast break opportunities and making sure not to miss out on rebounds.

(It was an offensive rebound, after all, that led to Tyrese Haliburton’s game-winning 3 for the Pacers in Game 2.)

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Garland in his career, and yet he’s consistently found a way to bounce back. Though no team wants to be down two games in a playoff series, a year after he was quieted for numerous reasons, Garland now has the opportunity to come back and make the loudest statement of his career.