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 have years like that. Obviously, he was experiencing things personally. You have to grow up. You have to understand it. Many people said it can’t…
“It’s a sample of four games but I have no doubt that will be him for us this season. That was him when he was called upon. That was him when he was an All-Star. I know the type of player he is. I know we can get along. You see it. This is probably the best four games we’ve ever put together. It will continue because we will 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.