By james art 
It was a rough night for New York sports fans. The Yankees’ bats went quiet against the Dodgers as the World Series returned to the Bronx. After Monday’s loss to the Steelers, Giants fans should start watching more Colorado football to scout Travis Hunter and Shadear Sanders, or Miami to watch quarterback Cameron Ward, because it’s all about the draft.
At Madison Square Garden, it was the Darius Garland show in the fourth quarter as he scored 15 of his 34 on the night to lift the now 4-0 Cavaliers over New York.
There were plenty of questions about whether Mitchell and Garland could handle playing together — and Garland took the brunt of that — but they’ve played well together in new coach Kenny Atkinson’s system to start the season. After the win in New York, Mitchell praised Garland and called out critics of the young guard, via Chris Fedor at Cleveland.com.
“I just want everyone who’s been on this side to stay on this side when it comes to him. I don’t want there to be a change. I know who a lot of you are,” Mitchell said of the continued criticism Garland has received over the past year. “There are times in your career when you’re that age. Obviously he was going through things personally. You’ve got to grow up. You’ve got to understand it. A lot of people said he couldn’t . . .
“It’s a sample of four games, but I have no doubt that’s who he’s going to be for us this season. This is who he was when he was elected. That was who he was when he was an All-Star. I know the type He is. I know we can do it together. It’s probably the best game we’ve ever made because we’ll continue to believe in what we can do. There’s a confidence in him this year.”
It’s only four games — three against teams expected to be in the lottery — but the Cavaliers have a +15.2 net rating so far this season when Mitchell and Garland share the court. Small sample size or not, this is a promising sign.
There are a lot of promising signs surrounding Cleveland right now – this could become a dangerous team in the East.