CLEVELAND, Ohio — Saturday afternoon against Minnesota was always going to be framed through a familiar lens. The Timberwolves bring size, force and a willingness to turn games into collisions. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley meeting that physicality was critical. What decided the afternoon, though, lived a few feet inside the arc, in the spaces Darius Garland carved out with timing, touch and restraint.
This was a game that reminded everyone what Cleveland looks like when its point guard is dictating tempo instead of reacting to it.
Garland finished with 22 points and six assists in the Cavs’ 146-134 win, one of five players to reach the 20-point mark.
The box score was clean. The film was better.
Garland got to the spots that organize the offense, not just scoring zones, but decision points where defenders have to declare their intentions.
His mid-range game was the anchor. It immediately forces honesty from the defense. Minnesota tried to sit back in drop coverage, daring Garland to live on floaters and runners. He accepted the invitation and never let them get comfortable.
He didn’t miss a single one. Seven mid-range attempts. Seven makes. Surgical.
There was a moment in the second quarter when Garland got back to his tempo again — and the Timberwolves were suddenly dancing to it.
Garland found himself isolated at the nail with Rudy Gobert, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, waiting in space. Garland sized him up, paused just long enough to freeze Gobert’s feet, then snapped into a hesitation cross that turned into a quick downhill burst. One step past the outstretched arm, he finished with a right-handed scoop off the glass, and Rocket Arena exhaled in unison.
Oohs. Aahs. Poetry in motion.
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The floater neutralizes rim protection without requiring brute force and bends defensive geometry just enough to open everything else. Tailor-made for Garland’s game.
One successful floater gave Minnesota a problem to solve. Two floaters forced them to adjust. The adjustments created advantages elsewhere on the floor.
“It’s like my bread and butter now. So if I see one go, I feel like the rest of them are going to go,” Garland said. “Then from there they have to help up. ... It opens up a lot for everybody.”
Garland used his burst to get downhill, slowed just enough to read the floor, then chose the right finish. Sometimes it was the soft runner over length. Other times it was a dump-off to Allen or Mobley lurking in the dunker spot or rolling from a pick-and-roll. When Minnesota brought help from the wings, Garland punished it with kickouts to shooters stepping into rhythm looks.
This is where his game separates itself. His eyes manipulate weak-side defenders. His stop-start rhythm forces bigs into indecision. His foot speed, now closer to full strength, lets him win angles before defenders realize they’ve lost them.
After missing the first seven games of the season due to offseason toe surgery — turf toe that has lingered longer than anyone wanted — his rhythm understandably wavered. Over the last few games, he’s gotten his flow back.
“He’s kind of our catalyst,” Sam Merrill said. “When his pace is great and he’s getting into the paint, it makes things so much easier and so much better for our offense specifically.
“He gets [his floater] up pretty quick and he gets it up in the air – felt like he never missed that last year. Took him maybe a little bit to get into that rhythm again to start this season, him coming back. But it looks really good right now.”
Garland has turned the ball over just four times across Cleveland’s last four games. It reflects comfort with his body again and trust in what he’s seeing.
“He’s been making the right decisions,” Mobley said. “This game, they kept playing back and he just kept shooting floaters. The next game, they might be up. He’s got to keep making the best decisions for us, and I think he does that night in and night out.”
The reads were not limited to traditional pick-and-roll. Garland’s off-ball movement stressed Minnesota as much as his on-ball creation.
With Donovan Mitchell sharing the floor, Garland did not park himself above the break. He cut behind ball pressure, flowed into second actions and caught the defense mid-shift.
“It makes us a lot better,” Mobley explained. “Because a lot of guys try to deny us and him not standing at the top of the key, him doing a back cut, gets into the next action. A lot of times recently, he’s been getting 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 or kick out. So it just makes our offense a lot better.”
That versatility is critical for Cleveland’s ceiling. Two high-level guards demand defensive resources. When both are willing to move without the ball, those resources get stretched thin.
The defensive side will always be part of Garland’s evaluation. He is undersized. Teams will hunt him. That did not disappear Saturday. What stood out instead was the scoreboard when he was on the floor. Garland finished plus-21, a reflection of how much his offensive orchestration outweighed the trade-offs when he’s at his best.
“DG was the old DG,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We need more of those games from him. He’s our motor. He’s our electricity.”
Saturday was different from Cleveland’s meeting with Minnesota on Thursday because Garland made it different.
The toe may not be fully healed. It may never feel perfect this season. What matters is how Garland is managing it, trusting it and playing through it with joy again. It’s obvious when the pain dims. The bounce returns. The smile sneaks out after a floater drops.
When Garland plays at his pace, with touch and clarity, Cleveland’s offense is how the team envisioned it coming into the season. Against one of the league’s most physical teams, and a top-five defense, the Cavs had the upper hand because their maestro set the rhythm and trusted the music to follow.