There are a lot of talented young backcourts in the NBA, and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ duo of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland is up there in the rankings.
One of the other great duos is made up of Atlanta Hawks stars Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. Another great duo consists of Memphis Grizzlies phenom Ja Morant and teammate Desmond Bane.
Michael Porter Jr., who plays for the Denver Nuggets, asked the “Road Trippin'” hosts who they would pick among those three backcourt duos, and former Cavs forward Channing Frye was clear with his choice.
“Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell — all day, every day,” he said. “… No offense to Ja. No offense to Desmond Bane. And no offense to Dejounte and Trae.”
Frye went on to argue that Mitchell has proven himself in the playoffs many different times.
Though Mitchell and Garland are arguably the best duo from that bunch, the Cavs have hit a bit of a cold streak recently. After shooting out to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference earlier in the season, they have slumped back down to the No. 4 seed with an 8-5 record.
They have now dropped four straight games. All of those games have been incredibly close, but the Cavs have struggled to close things out in the fourth quarter as of late.
Mitchell missed the Cavs’ most recent game, which resulted in a 129-124 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Fellow All-Star Jarrett Allen also had to miss that game. It stands to reason that if both, or even one, of those players had been able to play, the Cavs would have gotten the win.
Garland tried to will his team to victory, finishing with an astonishing 51 points. Unfortunately, it was not enough.
Now, the Cavs will look to end their losing streak at four against arguably the best team in the NBA: the Milwaukee Bucks.
The 10-2 Bucks will host the Cavs on Wednesday. It is not yet clear if Mitchell or Allen will be able to suit up for that game. If both players have to miss that contest, a victory is going to be incredibly hard for the Cavs to come by.
