Report: Cavs Optimistic Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, De’Andre Hunter Will Play In Game 3 Against Pacers

According to Joe Vardon of The Athletic, the Cleveland Cavaliers are optimistic Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and De’Andre Hunter will play in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Indiana Pacers. 

Mobley and Hunter got hurt in Game 1 and missed Game 2, while Garland hasn’t played since the Miami Heat series. 

“There is optimism that all three of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ injured star players, including All-Star guard Darius Garland, who has missed the last four games, will try to play Game 3 Friday against the Indiana Pacers, two league sources told The Athletic. ‘I don’t think he has a choice,’ one league source who is close to the Cavs said of Garland, who hasn’t played since Game 2 of the first round,” Vardon wrote. 

The Cavaliers are down 2-0 to the Pacers. They lost Games 1 and 2 at home. 

“They participated in the walk-through and we’re hoping for the best,” Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson said on Thursday. “I think it’s frustrating for all of us, right? It’s no indictment on anybody, it’s just, injuries are a tough thing and you don’t really know unless you experience it yourself.”

If the Cavaliers lose Game 3, their special season will be over, as no team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 series deficit in the playoffs. 

“League sources said, and Atkinson confirmed, that all three of the Cavs, Garland included, ‘desperately’ want to play,” Vardon wrote. “Not putting words in the coach’s mouth, because he didn’t say this part, but if the players are hungry to be on the court during these crucial games but are not even in uniform, they may be hurt worse than a ‘questionable’ designation suggests.”

Game 3 is the biggest contest of the season for the Cavaliers, who are the No. 1 seed in the East.

Garland, Mobley and Hunter will be listed as questionable for Game 3. 

“He’s got to figure it out and I support him 100 percent, whichever way it goes,” Atkinson said of Garland. “He’s probably thinking, ‘I gotta get to a certain point where I can compete at a high intensity, playoff level.’ That’s the hard thing for us … we really can’t simulate that (at practice).

“You have to talk with the trainers, you have to talk to the doctor, and then only you can make the call. “That’s kind of where (Garland) is.”