The Spurs, who played away, still had a slight lead in the first quarter, but from the second quarter onwards, the Cavaliers were in full control, and the Cavaliers who played at home defeated the Spurs 105-92 to win three consecutive games. Today, the Cavaliers are fourth in the East with 34 wins and 21 losses, and the Cavaliers have the same record as the Third Bulls, and the Heat are only slightly different from the Heat, who are in first place with 35 wins and 20 losses. Once the opportunity is seized, the Cavaliers are likely to top the Eastern Conference. The last time the Cavaliers were in the East was in the 15-16 season, when the Cavaliers had the likes of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.
Almost overnight, the Cavaliers completed the rebuild, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, Laurie Markkanen, Kevin Love and Dean Wade, these interior players must be players that can not be left out, the Cavaliers have the inside configuration that makes the whole league salivate, but today's protagonist is not these interior players, but the third-year Darius Garland. After the injuries of Colin Sexton and Ricky Rubio, Garland supported the Cavaliers' backcourt and performed well, becoming the first Cavaliers to be named an All-Star after James.
This season, Garland averaged 19.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game, shooting 47.4 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from three-point range, and 90.7 percent from the free throw line. The Cavaliers have had excellent guards in their history, and Irving is the senior, but Garland seems to be more like Chris Paul.
Paul's organizational tandem is definitely the leader in the league, Garland has enough potential to tap, and the effect of tandem teams this season is really good, but there is still a certain gap compared to Paul, he averaged 8.1 assists per game, but there were 3.7 turnovers, and the assist-to-turnover ratio was only 2.2. Paul averaged 10.5 assists per game, with only 2.4 turnovers, and the assist-to-turnover ratio was as high as 4.4, twice that of Garland. That's where Garland needs to improve, and he should probably look at Paul's game footage more.
Organizing a tandem team is not something that can be improved for a while and a half, and it also requires a certain talent, and Garland may not be able to reach Paul's level even if he works hard. But on the offensive side, Garland seems to have Paul's shadow. Paul's signature is the middle distance, and this season Paul shot 130 of 252 from mid-range, shooting 51.6%, which is the key to paul sr. to continue to run the league. Garland's mid-range is not false Paul, this season 138 shots 72, shooting 52.2%, but Garland's number of shots is not much, but Garland added more three-point shots, and the three-point shooting rate is higher than Paul, which is a very rare situation, the Cavaliers have a lot of inside, Garland's performance outside the three-point line can share the pressure for inside players.
In terms of offensive methods, Garland also has too many similarities with Paul, Paul is mainly based on emergency stop jump shots this season, he has shot 133 of 266 emergency stop jump shots this season, shooting 50%, of which 61 three-point shots are 21 shots, shooting 34.4%, Garland's emergency stop jump shot is 145 shots 65, shooting 44.8%, of which 62 three-point shots 24 shots, shooting 38.7%, Garland's emergency stop jump shot production and quality are somewhat different from Paul, But the three-point stop jump shot performed better, and with the help of inside players such as Allen, Garland's offensive threat was actually greater.
In addition to the stop-and-go jump shot, Garland is just as good at breaking through the sell-off as Paul, who shot 57.6% of 33 shots this season, while Garland shot 47 of 83 from 56.6. Garland's breakout throws are better than Paul's, which is extremely rare for a small player, after all, a small player who wants to turn the tide on the inside line requires not only excellent physical fitness, but also enough skills, and skills will make small players more relaxed.
Paul's offensive skills are almost visible in Garland, in fact, this is Garland's progress, from entering the league to now, the third-year Garland has made full progress. In terms of control, Garland is still slightly inadequate. In addition, in the key moments, Garland's performance was somewhat bad, he shot only 28.6% of the 42 shots in the key moments, including 1 of 19 three-pointers, shooting only 5.3%, and Paul was 20 of 35 in the key moments, shooting 57.1%, including 3 of 8 three-pointers, shooting 37.5%.
For Garland, who has performed well on average in the season, the performance at key moments is a bit hot, especially in terms of three-point shooting, which is where he needs to improve. Once he can improve the stability and ability to control mistakes in key moments, Garland's overall performance will rise to another level, so that he will become a top backcourt like Paul.
Text/Duncan's laugh