Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star guard Darius Garland is getting back on track on the court, and a significant part of that has to do with the improvement of his toe injury. Coming off Monday's 27-point, 10-assist performance in the team's win over the Charlotte Hornets, he told reporters after the game that he's planning on suiting up Tuesday against the New Orleans Pelicans. It would be the first time this season that Garland would play in a back-to-back scenario.
“I feel better every day,” Garland said postgame in the locker room.
Garland is listed as questionable on the injury report for the game against the Pelicans with a left quadriceps contusion and no mention of the toe.
“I hope so,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said in Monday's postgame press conference. “That's a good question. I'll just say this: I know there was discussion of him playing. I know he was pushing for it. I don't want to confirm it yet, but I think there's a real possibility that he plays. Plus, his minutes weren't crazy [Monday]. Man, he's moving a lot. But you saw him; he had a couple of rough possessions [managing the pain], right? I give the kid a lot of credit. I think he's playing through a lot, but definitely getting better.”
Atkinson is referring to the possession where Garland drove on the right side and attempted a jump pass to one of his teammates, where he landed on his right toe and limp-skipped to the other side of the floor. Cleveland had to take a timeout for him to collect himself. Garland also had another occurrence where he stepped on Jarrett Allen's foot and went to the ground momentarily. Luckily, he played out the rest of the game and kept looking like himself.
Over the last four games, Garland is averaging 25.8 points on .468/.531/.933 shooting splits across 33.0 minutes per game. He's dished out 33 total assists in that time frame.
“This is kind of like his evolution, it's to be expected,” Atkinson said pregame on Monday. “Out for four months, no offseason, no training camp. Obviously, didn't start the season. Ramp up's been slow. So we knew there was going to be a runway, and I'm just like pinching myself, man. We get DG back to DG level, which he was the other night. And I'm not even talking about the 35 points [vs. Chicago].
“I look at it like where he is from a movement perspective, how he's moving, how he's changing direction, where his balance is. It's like the quarterback that comes back from that injury. That's what you're looking at. The accuracy becomes better as they get healthier, and I just give the kid a ton of credit. I think he's playing through some stuff, and this is part of that injury, but he's been a soldier. So great to see him have a DG game the other night.”
We'll see if Garland gets the green light against NOLA on Tuesday evening before game time.
