Off-ball movement has led to Darius Garland’s resurgence

Garland’s 39-point outing was a result of how he was playing away from the ball.

Darius Garland and Damian Lillard went toe-to-toe in the fourth quarter. Lillard hit what felt like a back-breaking triple with under a minute and a half left to give the Milwaukee Bucks a three-point lead.

Garland didn’t blink. He converted a floater the next time down to cut the deficit to one then nailed the game-sealing three the following possession for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Lillard did blink. He ended the game by turning it over, missing a step-back three over Isaac Okoro, and then was blocked at the rim by Jarrett Allen to effectively end the game.

“I grew up watching Dame and I still watch his film to this day,” Garland said after his 39-point and eight-assist night. “It was super fun just battling against him.”

Garland and Lillard got their buckets down the stretch in similar ways. Both were pulling up and attacking off-the-dribble in high pick-and-rolls. But how Garland got going set the stage for him to be able to play that way at the end of the fourth.

Head coach Kenny Atkinson has been preaching since before training camp that he wants Garland to be much more active away from the play. That activity created easy looks earlier in the game that allowed him to be in a rhythm later on.

Garland got his game started with two easy catch-and-shoot threes. The second was a result of a bad pass and even worse defense, but the continual movement created an open corner three which he is knocking down 45% of the time so far this season.

This carried over to the second quarter where both of his triples were direct results of moving off of screens.

This opened up his game so that he could get downhill and attack when the defense overcommitted to stopping the outside shot.

Everything opens up for Garland and his teammates when he’s effectively able to get to his spots at all three levels.

“That’s been one of our offense’s [goals],” Allen said of Garland’s movement. “Keep moving, try to get around the ball, find the open space, set a screen for somebody. We want everybody moving all the time in our offense and Darius has done an excellent job. He’s finding all the open spots and we’re giving him the ball to let him knock it down.”

Garland knew that this would be his role this offseason and prepared for it.

“I put in a lot of work this summer for sure,” Garland said. “Try to keep my conditioning high, but just a will just to get it done.”

This performance was further confirmation that Garland isn’t just back to his old self, he’s a better version of it. On the season, Garland is averaging 20.5 points on 52.5% shooting from the field and 44.8% from deep on over seven threes per game. Those percentages and three-point volume are personal bests. His 2.4 turnovers per contest are also a career low.

Buying in more off-ball has made that possible while still allowing Donovan Mitchell to be his best self as well. As a result, Garland has as many games of 34 or more points this season as he had all of last year and Mitchell has already grabbed a Player of the Week award. This has all added up to a perfect 8-0 start for the Cavs.

The good times will keep going in Cleveland if both guards keep playing like this.

“This is who he is man,” Donovan Mitchell said. “This is who he’s going to be.”