Donovan Mitchell unleashes on Darius Garland critics after Cavs’ win over Wizards

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell showed support for his backcourt mate following Sunday’s win in Washington.

WASHINGTON — Cavs All-Star Donovan Mitchell wasn’t himself. Wizards mercurial sixth man Jordan Poole had the half-filled arena revved up Sunday night.

Thanks to the Poole-led 14-0 surge, Washington was suddenly back in front, and the Cavs were beginning to wobble, staring at a possible third straight loss.

Someone needed to respond. Typically, that’s Mitchell’s job. He’s the team’s MVP candidate, leading scorer and bona fide closer. But Mitchell was still feeling the effects of an illness that had sidelined him the previous two games and led to a proverbial decoy role Sunday night in his return.

Caris LeVert? Darius Garland? Jarrett Allen? Evan Mobley? Someone else?

Garland, the embattled point guard who had been misfiring on jumpers the first three quarters (and most of the season), took a pass from LeVert and splashed a triple to cut the Wizards’ lead in half.

Then on the next trip down, LeVert pushed the ball ahead quickly. He had Max Strus on his left. Mitchell had just finished jogging toward the 3-point line. LeVert didn’t wait. Washington was on its heels. He bounced the ball behind to a trailing Garland and then ran interference. Garland gathered, set his feet and hoisted a ruthless 28-foot bomb that tied the game and sent a jolt through Cleveland’s bench.

Those back-to-back 3s ignited a 9-1 run that flipped the game back in the Cavs’ favor, leading to a much-needed 114-105 losing streak-snapping win over the directionless Wizards.

It wasn’t Cleveland’s best performance. Mitchell called it a terrible start and a step backward. Others pointed to a lack of early focus and intensity. But that fourth-quarter moment could become Garland’s turning point in a turbulent season that has led to harsh criticism of Garland’s playing style and questions about his importance — the kind of outside noise that made Mitchell want to fire back on Sunday night.

“I’m on social media and I feel like people aren’t giving him the benefit of the doubt,” Mitchell told cleveland.com. “I want to speak on that because I think it’s bull—-. At the end of the day, he is a kid that has proven himself, not only to the Cleveland fanbase but this league as well. They’re ready to rag on a kid for, what, one half of a season? I think that is B.S. I’ve been waiting to say that.”

Mitchell, who typically doesn’t curse in interviews and apologized for his language after, wasn’t done.

“He’s continuing to find his way. It’s been two months and he’s slowly getting back to it,” Mitchell added. “At the end of the day, he is going to be there for us. Understanding that come playoffs, come whenever, we need him. He knows that. He’s continuing to build. We have all the confidence in the world in him. But the way people have been talking is (expletive) ridiculous.

“The kid has done a lot here. So much. For it to be devalued all for a few games is complete B.S. It’s not fair to him. He’s done so much for us as a team. Before I got here. While I’ve been here. He’s going to get back to his form. The kid is 24 years old. It’s not always easy to figure out a fit. He has done a phenomenal job of it and will continue to get back to it. Come playoff time, he will be right there with us. We have his back.”

On Sunday, Garland bricked four of his first five shots. He had just four points at halftime, only two more than his turnover count. He hung his head a few times. Was visibly frustrated — again. The Cleveland-based keyboard groans could be heard nearly 400 miles away.

But Garland temporarily silenced them all, just like he did the arena, with a second-half about-face punctuated by a dynamic 10-point fourth quarter.

By the end of the night, Garland had 17 points and seven assists against three turnovers in 33 impactful minutes. Despite another inefficient shooting game, going just 6 of 15 from the field, the Cavs were 22 points better with Garland on the floor — the best mark of anyone on the roster, including center Jarrett Allen who obliterated Washington’s feeble frontline, tallying a 22-point-12-rebound double-double.

It was shades of pre-injury Garland.

“You see it in spurts,” Mitchell responded when asked if he senses Garland regaining his rhythm after an extended absence. “It’s tough. You’re in. You’re out. For him, it’s continuing to be patient. He hasn’t been shooting the ball well, but he’s been able to get into the paint, create and relieve pressure for a lot of us.

“Look at a night like tonight. I’m stuck. I’m hobbled. Now you have him making plays down the stretch. He’s had lapses. We all have. But we’re being able to do different things because now you have to account for him and all of us. That’s what he has been providing for us since I’ve been here and before I got here. We have the utmost confidence in him.”

Garland, the team’s highest-paid player and one of its franchise pillars, has been largely a disappointment this season. Unable to stay healthy and find his place within this revamped offensive system predicated on quick decisions, fewer dribbles, more passes and a plethora of 3s, Garland has repeatedly addressed the many stops and starts that have thus far sabotaged his fifth year, one he was hoping would thrust him into the superstar point guard stratosphere.

The choppiness began with a nagging hamstring issue that plagued him in October. He didn’t find his rhythm until around mid-December — right in time to bash his face on Boston center Kristaps Porzingis’ hip, causing a fractured jaw. That flukey injury led to an all-liquid diet, with Garland losing more than 10 pounds and unable to do any kind of strenuous activity that raised his heart rate for four of those weeks.

Upon returning, he still didn’t look right. If anything, there were spurts of disrupting Cleveland’s six-week flow.

His timing was off. He wasn’t in playing shape. No longer the primary ballhandler. Getting shorter stints. Out of rhythm. Not finishing games. Failing to beat his defender off the bounce. Hijacking possessions at times. Being on that annoying minute restriction led to a few conversations with J.B. Bickerstaff about what the coach could do to make Garland’s reintegration smoother.

Those ongoing struggles only increased chatter from overzealous diehards about the Cavs being better without Garland, especially given the impressive 15-4 record without him from Dec. 16-Jan. 29. It’s also something the advanced metrics slightly support. For now, anyway.

“When you miss a lot of time like that it’s tough,” LeVert said. “Obviously, had All-Star break in there as well. Tough to get a rhythm. He’s human. Not everybody plays their best every single game. We all know in this locker room how valuable he is to our team. We know how much work he puts in. We know he will turn the corner. It’s not even necessarily that he is playing bad, it’s just expectations are so high for him because he is such a good player. He will get back to that. No one is in this locker room is worried.”

In 32 games this season, Garland is averaging 18.2 points — the lowest since his sophomore campaign — on 46.9% from the field and a career-low 33.9% from beyond the arc. He’s also recording just 6.2 assists per game against 3.3 turnovers. That high miscue rate — a combination of flamboyance, nonchalance, poor decision-making and being out of sync — would be the league’s seventh-highest mark if Garland logged enough games to qualify.

The Cavs, meanwhile, are 37-19, second place in the stacked Eastern Conference, a game in front of third-seeded Milwaukee. They have the league’s fourth-best net rating and have won 11 of the last 14 games. Since Jan. 31, when Garland returned from an extended absence, Cleveland has a 9.3 net rating, about four points per 100 possessions better than its season-long mark.

Through all his substandard play this season, Garland has tried to stay positive and keep his confidence high. Sunday’s critical fourth-quarter stretch should help. It had Garland strutting back down the court and looking more like the guy who helped pull this franchise from the ruins before Mitchell ever arrived.

“I got a couple open looks and made a couple. That was it from there,” Garland said. “I don’t know what’s going on. Getting off to a rough start. But I’m going to keep being me. Have my teammates behind me and they always encourage me to keep going and keep being aggressive to help us be better. When I made a couple, I looked at the bench and they were super hyped.

“Felt good for sure.”

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