Cavs Top 3: Darius Garland fails to impress in disappointing outing vs. the Sacramento Kings

Darius Garland and the Cleveland Cavaliers did not show up against the Sacramento Kings.

Darius Garland turned back the clock on Wednesday night as the Cleveland Cavaliers took on the Sacramento Kings, and that isn’t a good thing. Garland as a rookie was easily the worst NBA player on the court, and he looked every bit as bad against the Kings on Wednesday. The Kings defeated the Cavs 127-120 on Wednesday night, to send the team to their second-straight loss.

In Garland’s defense, he apparently was very ill. Chris Fedor tweeted that Mitchell informed him that Garland was ill and not 100%. This may explain his nine-point offering and 1-9 shooting performance.

The Kings played great offense all night and did to the Cavs exactly as we thought they would; they passed the ball with an effective ease and suckered the Cavs into a lot of bad defensive situations where the Kings got the calls. Some of this fell on Garland’s shoulders, with four turnovers and three fouls, those numbers combined nearly equaled the number of points he scored (nine).

Domantas Sabonis was a wrecking ball and absolutely wrecked the Cavaliers in the low-post, backing down Jarrett Allen at times with a power not seen that often anymore. Harrison Barnes went off for his best game of the year, and Kevin Huerter helped the Kings starting five amass 12 steals on the game.

The Cavs had their butts handed to them, and while the game’s minutes and stats will say it was a close affair, it really shouldn’t have been.

Cleveland Cavaliers top 3 vs. the Sacramento Kings

1 Point – Evan Mobley

The Cavs didn’t put Evan Mobley on Sabonis often, which showed, as Mobley’s box+/- was quite high all things considering (-1). He had a solid defensive offering and considering he’s struggled a bit in that department, it was good to see him return to a form more akin to what we saw last season.

2 Points –Caris LeVert

Caris LeVert’s near triple-double got him the two points (21 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists), but we’d be remiss for not pointing out his five turnovers on the game, which were constant momentum killers for the team.

3 Points – Donovan Mitchell

Nearly dropping 40 points and being the focal point of the offense against the Kings was enough to get Mitchell the top spot and three points to the season standings.

Cavs Top 3 Seasonal Standings

1. Donovan Mitchell – 21 Points
2. Jarrett Allen – 11 Points
3. Kevin Love – 8 Points
4. Cedi Osman – 7 Points
5. Caris LeVert – 5 points
6. Darius Garland – 4 Points
7. Dean Wade  – 3 Points
8. Evan Mobley – 2 Points