“He was like a kid. He was impatient, you can tell. He was happy. » These are the words of Donovan Mitchell after the return of Darius Garland to the competition. We know: the Cleveland playmaker had injured his eye in the first game of the season, against Toronto.
Two weeks after this laceration inside the eyelid, the Ohio All-Star returned to the courts against Boston, without giving the impression of having missed several matches.
“He was ready”, notes JB Bickerstaff. “You could feel it. He was impatient from the morning, at the shootaround. He wanted to bring his stone. He was not shy, he wanted to assert himself and his teammates followed suit. »
“It’s really his first game of the season”
To revive his teammate, Donovan Mitchell gave him the green light to shoot in the first quarter. The playmaker started with a pass, before following the instruction from the back. Result: 14 points at 3/3 behind the 3-pt line, the biggest first quarter of his career.
“It’s really his first game of the season”believes the former Jazz. “I missed him, that’s for sure. He set the tone tonight, when I didn’t know what his rhythm would be like, after two weeks without playing. He had energy, legs, desire. »
With 29 points at 9/20 in shooting, 12 assists and 7 rebounds in the Cavaliers’ victory, after overtime, against the 2022 finalists, Darius Garland indeed had an excellent game.
The lights in the room did not interfere with his sight and he did not need to wear protective glasses, the famous “goggles”, since the doctors assured him that it was not necessary. Good news, in addition to a good performance therefore, while at the time of his injury, the player thought of the worst.
” I was afraid “he confesses. “I felt blood in my eye, so I was nervous. I was ready to have surgery in Toronto. I thought I had stitches and that I was going to miss several months of competition. Sitting around watching other people play is kind of infuriating. But I kept my head up, my teammates were winning, everything was fine. I wanted to come back with them, find that energy. I’m happy to be back. »
| Darius Garland | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2019-20 | KEY | 59 | 31 | 40.1 | 35.5 | 87.5 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 0.1 | 12.3 |
| 2020-21 | KEY | 54 | 33 | 45.1 | 39.5 | 84.8 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 6.1 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 3.0 | 0.1 | 17.4 |
| 2021-22 | KEY | 68 | 36 | 46.2 | 38.3 | 89.2 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 8.6 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 3.7 | 0.1 | 21.7 |
| 2022-23 | KEY | 1 | 13 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 |
| Total | 182 | 33 | 44.2 | 37.8 | 87.6 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 6.3 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 0.1 | 17.3 | |
