The Cavs can ease the pressure on Donovan Mitchell with ‘catalyst’ Darius Garland

Donovan Mitchell got off to a fast start on Saturday, but as the game wore on, The Cleveland Cavaliers showed they don’t need to rely on their six-time All-Star. It was Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Jarrett AllenSam Merrill and Jaylon Tyson getting the job done as Mitchell picked his spot in the Cavs’ 146-134 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday afternoon.

While Merrill and Tyson’s defensive toughness against Anthony Edwards, Julia Randle and company stood out, Garland’s connection to the bigs on the other end is trend in the right direction. Mobley and Allen received pocket and short-throw shovel passes, and rewarding the duo was a point of emphasis for Cleveland. Since New Year’s Sunday, Garland has assisted on 21 of their shots; Allen made 15 field goals and Mobley had six.

“I mean, it just makes it easier for us,” Mobley said after the game. “I think it starts with us setting a good screen and then it just takes him downhill. He’s been making the right decisions from there. This game they just kept making plays and he just kept hitting floaters. Next game, they could be up there. He’s got to keep making the best decisions for us, and I think he’s doing that night in and night out.”

“Evan was 8-for-8 at the rim, he played hard, but DG was old DG,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We need more of those games from him. He’s our engine. He’s our electricity.”

Sam Merrill chimed in and called Garland the “catalyst” of the team. The soon-to-be 26-year-old declined to give credit to Mobley and Allen on Saturday.

“It’s not even about me, it’s about both of us,” Garland said. “They work so well hand-in-hand. We haven’t had that many big lobs, but I mean, when they’re in the pocket, they’re both looking for each other. So it’s pretty good to have both of them offensively. Defensively, you know what they’re doing defensively. So if you know basketball, everybody’s going to watch it.

More notably, Mobley and Allen return the favor. Garland did a great job of getting off the ball and trailing opponents in the half court. Mobley has carried that over to him more than the other way around the last two weeks, and the results are promising with Garland’s 16 field goals from Mobley and Allen at high efficiency (13 of 18 in the paint coming into Saturday).

“Just to create some separation,” Garland told ClutchPoints in his postgame scrum. “There’s a lot of back doors. Sometimes it starts to come a little bit, and then they can just hold back and move on to another action. Especially with me and Don there at the same time.”

“It’s hard to guard both actions when you have two really good guards on the floor at the same time. And that gets the bigs going, it gets the defense going, we get easy shots, we get into the paint, we look for splashes, we look for lobs, and that’s our offense.”

Mobley knows he makes Cleveland that much better when he finds those spots.

“A lot of guys try to deny us, and he’s not standing at the top of the key, he’s cutting back, getting into the next action,” Mobley said. “And a lot of times, lately, he gets the ball off the back cut, and that puts him in the paint right there. And from there, it’s just like a pick-and-roll, and he can shoot the floater or hit the big one or lay it out.”

Garland scored 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field. He made one of three three-point attempts, but all of his other shots were inside the arc. Downhill is his specialty when healthy, so this could be a sign that his toe may be on the mend. He got Rudy Gobert into multiple isolations by going over the top, showing the different gears and side-to-side movement that made him one of the most dynamic guards in the NBA.

“Just to get me going a little bit, if I could get a float, it’s like my bread and butter now,” Garland said. “So if I see one go, I feel like the others are going to go. Then, from there, they have to help. So the lobs are there, the throws are there. Then, the pocket becomes a little easier for me to hit for the bigs, and then they’ll start doing their thing, too. So it opens up a lot for everybody.”

“He picks it up pretty quick, and he blows it up — he felt like he never missed it last year,” Merrill added. “It took him maybe a little bit to get back into that rhythm to start this season, he’s coming back. But he’s looking really good right now.”

Atkinson is excited to see glimpses of Garland’s true self. He had “a lot of empathy” for him as he came back from injury.

“That was maybe the best flash I’ve seen because of the change of direction and getting the mismatch and just clearing the mismatch and then the balance on the shot, the floaters,” Atkinson said. “You have to shoot them against Rudy. It’s not like, ‘Oh yeah, take it to Rudy’s chest.’ You have to make those floats.”

Garland’s comeback performance against Minnesota and entering the game DG pick-up mode in Indianapolis are positive signs. If he can keep up these types of efforts, it will allow Mitchell to breathe and Allen and Mobley to eat.

“If (we have) an average Darius, we’re not going to win that game,” Atkinson said. “We’re kind of there. We need him to be elite. We need him to be All-Star level to make that jump this year.”