Garland has played his best this season when the game is on the line.
Darius Garland has struggled to close games at various points in his career for the Cleveland Cavaliers. That hasn’t been the case at all this season.
“It doesn’t surprise me because of the talent and the smarts and what a great passer he is and good decision maker,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said after watching Garland close out the Brooklyn Nets. “He’s got the shot. He’s got everything.”
Garland has had everything down the stretch. So much so, that he’s been arguably the most clutch player in the league.
The NBA defines clutch situations as any game where the point differential is between five points with under five minutes to play. Garland has found himself in those positions four times this season for a total of 18 minutes. In that time, he’s scored 24 points on 9-12 shooting from the field (75%) which includes going 3-5 from deep. His 24 clutch points are the seventh most in the league while being the only player within the top 10 that has played less than 20 clutch minutes.
Garland is using his skills in concert with each other in a way that he hasn’t at any point of his career during the biggest moments. That’s clearly seen in how he’s handled his clutch situations.
Against the New York Knicks, he was able to manipulate screens to create openings beyond the arc and for a floater.
Garland’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks is a great example of how he’s used his outside shot to set up his ability to get to the rim and vice versa. He had the three-ball going so he used the threat of the pull-up jumper to get clean looks at the rim.
He then delivered the knockout blow by again attacking hard off of the high pick-and-roll. This time, he snatched it back before heading downhill to set up a step-back three.
Against the Nets, Garland simply took what the defense gave him. That meant an easy midrange jumper in transition, a simple dump-off to Evan Mobley when the defense over-helped, and then faking a step-back three before getting inside for a high-percentage floater.
“I just took my time,” Garland said after carving up the Nets. “[I] got the right matchup that I wanted, and was just aggressive from there, just trying to make the right read.”
The Cavs have the best clutch-time offense in the league with a 122 offensive rating. Garland is a big reason why that’s been the case.
“He’s a complete point guard,” Atkinson said. “Maybe last year there were some end-of-game [situations that] didn’t always go great. But from my point of view, just coaching him for the first time, I’m just blown away by his control of end-of-game situations.”
It’s easy to point to injuries as the reason why that was the case last year, but this isn’t who he’s been at any point in his career. Garland has never registered an effective field goal percentage over 50% in the clutch in any previous season.
Garland’s lack of size has been an issue for him in the past. It hasn’t been so far this season due to the increased speed and decisiveness he’s playing with. Both have allowed him to correctly read and react to the openings the defense presents. The skills that are present during the first 45 minutes are now showing through in the final few.
It’s too early to say whether this is sustainable, but you can’t argue with the results so far. Garland isn’t just back to his old self, he’s a significantly better player than he’s ever been. His backcourt mate doesn’t see any reason for that to change.
“He’s gonna keep playing like this,” Donovan Mitchell said. “This is who he is. And for me, it’s just amazing to see. . . . It’s only 11 games, but still, you can see it. There’s just a decisiveness about it you’ve seen from him. He’s done it all year.”