Cleveland Cavaliers: Analyst Poses 1 Tough Darius Garland Question After Disappointing Playoff Performance

While plenty of changes have to be made for a Cavs squad that didn’t have significant postseason experience , the biggest question may be reserved for Darius Garland.

The guard has been a terrific piece for Cleveland in the regular season, but the playoffs revealed plenty to be desired out of the guard. One analyst openly ponders if he’s still a critical piece for the Cavs’ championship aspirations in the coming seasons.

Analyst questions Darius Garland’s status in the Cleveland Cavaliers roster after shoddy postseason performances

Terry Pluto of the Terry’s Talkin’ podcast openly questioned Garland’s performances in the 4-1 series:

“Garland stats: He shot 34% from the field. He shot 17% on threes. It was bad,” Pluto said. “… He looked overwhelmed. And he’s looked overwhelmed, you know, a fair amount of time in his career in the playoffs.”

He even questioned his motivation in the middle of the the series, saying that him giving out reasons for his lessened performance was nothing short of unacceptable:

“In the middle of this series, Darius Garland was telling reporters about, ‘People don’t know what I’m going through and how painful it is,’ ” podcast host David Campbell said. “And when I saw that, I’m like, ‘This could be some trouble for the Cavs. He’s already making excuses for why he’s not playing well.’ ”

While Pluto’s statements have plenty of things to dissect, the most disappointing for Cleveland Cavaliers fans was Garland’s showing when they saw how well he played throughout the regular season. He had his second-best campaign under Kenny Atkinson, averaging 20.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 1.2 steals per game.

Mike Gansey would have to make a tough decision on whether to keep Garland as a necessary building block or not. While it’s true he choked on the big stage, it was indeed the first rodeo into deep postseason ball for many of the players on the roster.

Identifying whether Garland is worth building with would determine whether Cleveland can win a second championship banner in the next four years.