Cavaliers All-Star Snaps Out Of Shooting Slump In Historic Win

Darius Garland carries the Cleveland Cavaliers to their 15th straight victory with an 18-point fourth quarter.

Tommy Wild | Mar 12, 2025

Mar 7, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) brings the ball up court against the Charlotte Hornets during the third quarter at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kinser-Imagn Images / Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

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Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers continue to dominate their competition on their quest to secure the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed for the postseason.

Despite their now 15-game winning streak, the Cavaliers have been playing far from their best basketball of the season over the last few weeks.

One player in particular who has especially struggled since the All-Star break is Cleveland's star point guard, Darius Garland.

Heading into Tuesday night, Garland was averaging just 15.9 points, shooting 34 percent from the floor and 31 percent from behind the arc since the All-Star break.

NBA analyst John Schuhmann recently pointed out that Garland "has an effective field goal percentage of just 42.1% since the break, down from 59.4% prior. That's the biggest drop among 126 players with at least 200 field goal attempts before the break and 75 since."

Mar 7, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) celebrates a three point basket against the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kinser-Imagn Images / Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

Garland's biggest strength is his shooting; it always has been.

Even when his shot isn't falling, he has to keep hoisting the ball to get back in a groove.

While it may look tough at times, Garland just has to trust that at some point, he'll break out of a tough shooting stretch, and that's exactly what happened in Cleveland's latest victory.

DG's shooting slump was still present through the first three-quarters of Tuesday night's historic win over the Brooklyn Nets, but he snapped out of that in a big way in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.

Garland scored 18 of his 30 points in the final 12 minutes and went 70 percent (7-for-10) from the floor and 50 percent (1-for-2) from behind the arc.

Darius Garland came through in the clutch to secure Cleveland's 18-PT comeback and 15th straight win!

🏀 18 PTS in 4Q (30 for the game)
🏀 2 STL in 4Q (4 for the game)
🏀 8 AST pic.twitter.com/xvBq6Mq5rk
— NBA (@NBA) March 12, 2025

Cleveland's head coach even mentioned after the game that Garland's fourth-quarter heroics were "the DG we all know. That's been him 95 percent of the season."

"He went through a little slump, but it's a great game to get him going with [Donovan Mitchell] out. He knew he had to take more on and I think that'll spark him. He'll be on his way to playing great basketball again," continued Kenny Atkinson.

A player can't have a fourth-quarter such as the one Garland had and still be considered in a slump.

Now, Garland has to build on this performance and maintain his All-Star level of play as Cleveland ramps up for what will hopefully be a memorable playoff run.

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