The Cleveland Cavaliers are all set to take on the Boston Celtics for the second time early in the new season. The last time these two teams faced off Caris LeVert and Donovan Mitchell put on a show in TD Garden by both scoring 41 points in a Cleveland Cavaliers overtime win.
Now the Celtics head to The Land to try and get some revenge on this young and dangerous Cavaliers team. The big story surrounding tonight’s Eastern Conference matchup is Cavaliers’ all-star point guard Darius Garland who has missed the last five games with an eye injury.
Darius Garland is coming off a breakout year where he averaged 27 points per game and had his very first all-star game appliance with his teammate Jarrett Allen. In the Second quarter of the Cavaliers’ season opener, Darius Garland went down after taking a hit to the face from a Toronto Raptors player.
Garland’s injury
Garland suffered a cut on the inside of his eyelid and has not played since due to the swelling. Early yesterday afternoon it was said that Garland returned to practice for the Cavaliers and that he had been upgraded to questionable for tonight’s nationally televised game with the Celtics.
Darius Garland will now most likely be a game-time decision as Cleveland’s trainers and head coach will see how Darius does at shoot around and in the pregame warmups. “We’ll see tomorrow,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said when asked about Garland’s chances of playing. “He went through everything. It’s how he’s feeling tomorrow and what the swelling looks like. But he was good today. He’s done enough to go ahead and play if he’s gonna play.” as reported by Cleveland.com. Darius Garland is a very tough player and has played through injury before. We will see what his status for tonight’s game is as we draw closer to tipoff.
With the Cavaliers on a five-game winning streak after dropping their first game to the Raptors, they have a little bit of a tougher schedule ahead of them that they would love to have Darius Garland on the court for. Donovan Mitchell and company have been holding down the fort in some great team wins and it is scary to see what this team has already accomplished without their all-star point guard.
Tough games ahead for the Cavs
With teams like the Clippers, Warriors, and Timberwolves coming up it would be ideal for the Cavaliers to have Garland back as soon as possible. That being said, there is no need to rush his recovery as the season is still very young. If everything goes as planned Darius Garland will suit back up for the Cavaliers tonight as the Celtics come to The Land for Wednesday night Basketball.
Image Credits: commons.wikimedia.org.