Cleveland Cavaliers star guard Donovan Mitchell had a devastated reaction when teammate Darius Garland told him about his heartbreaking injury news.
Garland has a fractured jaw and is expected to be sidelined for several weeks.
“Donovan Mitchell received a sobering text message shortly before the news became public,” Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor wrote. “It was from beloved backcourt mate Darius Garland.
“Mitchell couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to.
“‘No f—— way,’ Mitchell recalled following Saturday night’s 127-119 win over the Atlanta Hawks. ‘That was my reaction.'”
The Cavs are going to have to navigate life without Garland and Evan Mobley for the foreseeable future.
On Saturday, Mitchell dropped 22 points, five rebounds and two steals while shooting 7-of-21 from the field against the Hawks. While he didn’t shoot the ball with great efficiency, he arguably made up for it by thriving as a playmaker. He dished out a whopping 13 assists for the Cavaliers.
Big man Jarrett Allen was the only player on the Cavaliers who scored more points than Mitchell against Atlanta. He finished with 25 points on 12-of-14 shooting from the floor in 35 minutes of playing time. Plus, he chipped in 14 rebounds, two steals and one block.
Conversely, Hawks point guard Trae Young — who is averaging 28.0 points per game this season — starred versus Cleveland. He totaled 35 points and 10 assists while shooting 11-of-21 from the field and 7-of-12 from behind the 3-point arc.
But it wasn’t enough for the Hawks, with the Cavs earning an important win.
Cleveland’s victory over Atlanta on Saturday improved the team’s record to 14-12 on the season. The Cavaliers now own the eighth-best record in the Eastern Conference and are just one game back of Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat for the No. 5 seed.
The Cavaliers have a matchup against a formidable opponent in the Houston Rockets on the horizon, as Cleveland will host Houston on Monday.
The Rockets are one of the hottest teams in the NBA at the moment. The squad owns a 13-9 record — the seventh-best in the Western Conference — and is riding a five-game winning streak. The Los Angeles Clippers are the only team in the conference with a longer active winning streak, seeing as how they have won their last seven games.
Hopefully, Mitchell will shoot the ball with better accuracy from the field than he did against the Hawks in the Cavaliers’ upcoming game against the Rockets. After all, he will likely need to pick up the slack as a scorer in the upcoming weeks while Garland and Mobley are sidelined.
