On January 5, Beijing time, the NBA field of fierce fighting is still the same, the Cavaliers sat at home to meet the Grizzlies. Although for most of the time, they were able to hold on tightly to the score, in the final moments, they could not stop the sudden outbreak of Morant, and finally lost 106-110, watching their opponents win six consecutive games.
Counting this game, the Cavaliers have lost four of their last five games, and the team's overall record has slipped to 21 wins and 17 losses, although it is still ranked 6th in the East, but it is a stone's throw away from the play-off zone. But the good news is that the return of core defender Garland is expected to help the team stop the decline.
Garland has been out of the last four games because of the issue of triggering health and safety protocols, in which the Cavaliers have won only one. Coming back from the line of fire, he still showed a fiery state, scoring a game-high 27 points on 9-of-26 shooting in the game, in addition to 4 rebounds and 10 assists. In the head-on conversation with the same list show Morant, he was not in a clear disadvantage, letting the other side take the lead.
As a team that struggled in the lottery last season, the Cavaliers are a dark horse this season, and before the start of the season, no one may have thought that they would occupy a place in the top 8 of the division, especially after the fall of Thexton and Rubio, they are still winning consecutively and winning momentum. Behind this, Garland's outstanding performance is the most remarkable.
Counting this game, Garland has played a total of 32 times this season, averaging 34.2 minutes per game, can get 20 points, 3.1 rebounds and 7.3 assists, shooting 47.8% from the field, shooting 38.1% from three-point range, and averaging 2.7 three-pointers per game. In his last five games, he has scored 120 points, averaging 24 points and 6.6 assists per game, shooting 52 percent from the field.
In 2019, which is generally considered to be the big year of the draft, Garland is not obvious, and the stars around Zion, Barrett and Morant appear to be dim, but what people did not expect is that after only three seasons, Garland has sat in the core of the Cavaliers' backcourt.
It is worth mentioning that in the draft report of that year, the scouts almost unanimously agreed that Garland was a double-agent who was biased towards scoring, with a poor view of the overall situation and poor passing ability, which was labeled by the outside world, but the fact was that his number of assists increased year by year, averaging 7.3 assists per game this season to rank in the top ten of the league, his ability to read the game, and the determination to implement blocking and demolition tactics were eye-catching.
What is even more surprising is that as a defender who is only 185cm tall, Garland has not only achieved an offensive efficiency of 111.6 this season, but also a defensive efficiency of 101.4, ranking among the top players in the same position. In his 32 games, the Cavaliers' record is 19-13, a winning percentage of much higher than 50%, but in the 6 games he has been absent, the team's record is only 2 wins and 4 losses, and his importance to the team is self-evident.
The Cavaliers have not had an All-Star-level guard since Irving, but with this season's stats and cavaliers record, Garland is definitely expected to knock on the All-Star door. It should be noted that he was born in 2000 and is only 21 years old!