Not only did the Cleveland Cavaliers lose 140-138 to the Miami Heat last night, but they also lost one of their best players in the process, as Darius Garland hobbled off the court due to a toe injury. And yes, it is the same toe that he had surgery on last offseason.
Garland sustained the knock when he drew a foul on Nikola Jovic on a drive to the basket with nearly two minutes left in the first half. The Cleveland Cavaliers guard left the match with 11 points, five rebounds, and two assists on 2-for-9 shooting from the field in 19 minutes of action. However, teammate Donovan Mitchell didn’t seem to be worried.
“I came back here with him, and I said, ‘Hey, this is a part of it. I’d rather this happen today than in four or five months.’ This is all of a part of it,” Donovan Mitchell said of Garland via Spencer Davies of ClutchPoints. “And it’s easy for me to say that, right? It’s easy for us to sit here and say, ‘You’ll be fine,’ and he’s not trying to hear that.”
“But at the end of the day, there’s gonna be setbacks. There’s gonna be things that happen. It’s not about him not working. I could see if he was upset because you didn’t do the things necessary, but he’s been in the gym, he’s been working on himself. It’s nothing to be worried about,” he concluded.
Cleveland Cavaliers News: Kenny Atkinson shares key injury update on Max Strus
Max Strus has yet to make his season debut for the Cleveland Cavaliers due to foot surgery. But head coach Kenny Atkinson recently shared that the veteran swingman is making progress, though he isn’t sure when Strus will come back.
“He’s on the court shooting, so that’s good,” Atkinson said of Strus via Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor. “Still no contact yet, but he is doing on-court work, progressing well. No setbacks.”
With Strus on the sidelines, there have been more opportunities for Jaylon Tyson, De’Andre Hunter, and Dean Wade. Last season, Strus averaged 9.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists on 44/39/82 shooting splits across 50 regular season appearances (37 starts).
