All-Star Snub Fuels Fire For Darius Garland
He didn't know it at the time, but Darius Garland was not named an All-Star, either as a starter or as one of the seven Eastern Conference reserves, when he stepped on the floor Thursday night against the Memphis Grizzlies.
You wouldn't have known it by the way he performed.
"You're the first person that told me that," Garland said during his postgame press conference. " So yeah, I will use it as motivation. It's whatever. We’ve got other games to play. We’ve got somewhere we want to get to, we’re trying to get to the playoffs."
Garland erupted for a game-high 32 points and 11 assists in a wild 128-113 win over the Grizzlies. He was forced to shoulder more of the offense when Donovan Mitchell was ejected following an on-court skirmish, scuffle, fracas, insert your adjective here.
But Garland's didn't just pick up the pace when Mitchell was shown the exit, he set it from the game's opening tip.
Garland had a tremendous first quarter with 14 points, but he also dished out three of his 11 assists, including a pair of beautiful set-ups to Jarrett Allen and another to Evan Mobley on the following possession.
The 14 first quarter points tied a career-high for points in an opening quarter. Thursday night marked his seventh game this season with 30-plus points and third game with 30 or more points and ten or more assists.
Garland also dished out his 1,500th career assist with his second assist of the game.
"You look at what he's done and how he's helped this team win, and that should be the priority, you know?" said Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. "It's a little frustrating and disappointing that he was not on that team. But we know how valuable he is and how important he is to us and to this group on the court in the locker room."
What wasn't disappointing was how Garland and his team responded in the aftermath of Mitchell and Brooks' donnybrook. The Cavs' and to an extent Garland's composure and largely soft-spoken nature can sometimes be confused with being soft.
Mitchell can be the same way. Even in his post-game comments in which he carved Brooks for his cheap shot, his voice hardly raised above a whisper.
Garland admitted that's more his team's personality, but they can raise their voices when necessary.
"We some nice young men until you try to do some weird stuff like dude did over there," Garland said. "We’re still tough, though. We're a tough group and we got some guys that get after you and we’re going to fight back if you try to push us first."
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