Cavs Top 3: Darius Garland has a deceptively bad game in loss to Heat

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Darius Garland couldn’t outpace the Heat

Yes, Darius Garland had 24 points and 10 assists but he played awfully against the Miami Heat in the Cleveland Cavaliers 117-105 loss on Friday night. The Cavs played well in the first half but turnovers and poor shot selection in the second half sunk the Cavs in Miami.

On paper, Garland had a nice night, with 24 points and 10 assists. Yet, his numbers are actually far from good and while no one player can cost a team a game, Garland did everything he could to throw this one away. The third-year All-Star shot just 4-17 from the floor and 1-6 from three-point. He did shoot 15-16 from the free-throw line, but his 23% shooting from the floor was among the worst of the year.

Then he contributed with seven turnovers on the night on his own. It was a rough night for the young star. Defensively, the Cavs had to manage the highly explosive Heat offense, and maybe they can handle Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, but throw in the hot-shot Tyler Herro? It was too much for the Cavs’ defense to handle.

The Miami Heat were too much for the Cleveland Cavaliers

Cavs Top 3

1. Kevin Love
2. Lauri Markkanen
3. Even Mobley

It’s hard to give anyone points after a night like this. Garland played badly, but so did everyone else to an extent. So we’re going to give the nod to Kevin Love to get the first point. He only shot five times and hit four of them, so it was a little befuddling to see how little he was given. He ended up with 11 points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes.

Lauri Markkanen is getting two points for the day, with a 15 point, four rebound performance while shooting 50% from the floor. Defensively he was a bit late too many times but overall his shooting has been much improved since returning from injury.

The three-pointer of the night goes to Evan Mobley, who had 19 points and 12 rebounds while playing solid ball down low. The lack of Jarrett Allen was always going to be a problem but you can’t replace Allen. All you can do is endure.

Yearly Standing:

1. Darius Garland (70 points)
2. Jarrett Allen (68 points)
3. Kevin Love (59)
4. Lauri Markkanen (45)
5. Evan Mobley (43 points)
6. Cedi Osman ( 33 points)
7. Ricky Rubio (32 points)
8. Isaac Okoro (13 points)
9. Dean Wade (10 points)
10. Rajon Rondo (6 points)
11. Lamar Stevens (4 points)
12. Brandon Goodwin (3 points)
13. (*Tie*) Caris LeVert/Dylan Windler (1 point)