Darius Garland #10 of the Cleveland Cavaliers (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
The Cleveland Cavaliers are ready to make a run for the championship this season.
The Cavaliers have held the best record in the Eastern Conference all season long, in large part due to their 15-0 start to the regular season. The quartet core of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen — the first three were All-Stars this season — have led the Cavaliers to a 61-15 start to the season, becoming the first team in the East to win 60 games.
This is the third season that the quartet core is teaming up and the fourth season that Garland, Mobley and Allen are together. After two playoff runs together, Cleveland appears primed for bigger things — a potential championship.
“Yes, for sure,” says Garland in a one-on-one interview with RG when asked if the Cavaliers’ recent playoff runs have helped them emerge as an elite team. “Just being out there, just getting the feel of the playoff atmosphere has really helped us.
The physicality is totally different from the regular season, so getting a feel for that and just really paying attention to details.”
The Cavaliers advanced to the semifinals of the playoffs last season after winning their first playoff series since the LeBron James era during the 2017-18 season. However, Cleveland was outmatched in five games as they were eliminated by the eventual champion Boston Celtics. The Celtics won their games by an average margin of 15 points per game.
However, the Cavaliers are a different team this season and have already split their regular season meetings with the Celtics.
Lessons from Boston Battles
“The possessions really slow down, the possessions lessen in the playoffs, so you really have to take care of the ball, really have to rebound the ball on the defensive end and try to get some easy ones,” says Garland. “Because it’s really tough to score in the half court during a playoff series. Just getting a couple rounds under our belts has really helped us, especially last year going against Boston. I think that really flipped the switch in our head just to be ready to play all games, be ready for the physicality and really just take care of the ball on the offensive end, trying to get a shot or rebound every possession.”
While last year’s playoff series against the Celtics was a one-sided affair, that hasn’t been the case this season. Even in the Cavaliers’ two losses to the Celtics, they were both close games, with Cleveland narrowly losing by three points on Nov. 19 — it was their first loss of the season — and losing to Boston by seven points on Feb. 4.
Meanwhile, their two victories over the Celtics were by an average margin of 5.5 points per game. As Garland is detailing, every possession matters, especially in the playoffs against a team like Boston.
Mobley’s Evolution and Atkinson’s Impact
One of the big reasons for Cleveland’s ascent in the Eastern Conference has been the addition of Kenny Atkinson as their new head coach. The Cavaliers parted ways with JB Bickerstaff after four full seasons as head coach. It became clear that the Cavaliers may have plateaued with Bickerstaff, paving the way for a new one in Atkinson.
The move has paid off so far, with Garland detailing why the 57-year-old has been so successful leading the Cavaliers to the top of the East.
“Kenny’s been really great for us,” says Garland. “Just having another voice in our locker room, just a new fresh start with the new coaching staff really helped us.”
Garland explains how Atkinson has really been able to bring out the best in the 23-year-old Mobley, who has emerged as a first-time All-Star this season while averaging career highs with 21.9 points and 1.9 blocks per game to go along with 1.4 three-point makes on 3.7 three-point attempts per game.
“Evan was really a dunker the last couple years and now moving him to the three-point line, which is really helping us a lot,” explains Garland. “Especially for our guards in the backcourt really to get downhill and be aggressive. Now they really have to respect his three ball ‘cause he’s really knocking them down right now and shooting them with confidence. That was really a big change for us just to spread the floor a little bit with all the ball-handling and the skill that we have just to create some more confusions and get downhill.”
Bringing out Mobley’s ability to shoot the three-ball has given an added dimension to not only his game, but the Cavaliers as a unit. While the Celtics still lead the league in treys — something that Garland stresses they need to slow down in order to beat Boston in the playoffs — the Cavaliers rank second in the category. The Cavaliers ranked seventh in treys last season and 19th two seasons ago.
Considering the NBA is a three-point shooting league, the Cavaliers will likely have to find a way to outduel the Celtics in that regard to knock them out of the playoffs.
“Now we’re looking for spray outs and we’re shooting probably like 45 three-pointers a game now, which is where the league is going,” says Garland. “Just moving Evan to the four and him shooting three-ball with confidence has really helped us a lot.”
DJ Siddiqi
