{"id":764801,"date":"2022-11-03T14:23:57","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T18:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=764801"},"modified":"2022-11-03T14:24:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T18:24:00","slug":"darius-garland-happy-as-hell-to-rejoin-cavs-after-eye-laceration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/news\/nba\/darius-garland-happy-as-hell-to-rejoin-cavs-after-eye-laceration\/","title":{"rendered":"Darius Garland \u2018Happy as Hell\u2019 To Rejoin Cavs After Eye Laceration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/darius-garland-slam-all-star-vol-2\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"738704\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Darius Garland<\/a> took the floor for the first time in two weeks last night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Garland didn&#8217;tmissed a beat despite doing no live work since he suffered a <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/comfortable-donovan-mitchell-drops-31-in-his-cleveland-cavaliers-debut\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"763298\" target=\"_blank\">laceration on the inside of his eyelid<\/a> in Cleveland&#8217;s season opener against the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/fred-vanvleet-leads-the-raptors-by-example\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"763006\" target=\"_blank\">Raptors<\/a>. He stepped on the court ready to go and recorded the highest-scoring opening quarter of his career with 14 points on 3-3 shooting from three.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Welcome back, \ud83d\udd1f!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dariusgarland22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@dariusgarland22<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LetEmKnow?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LetEmKnow<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZByB7gCHAz\">pic.twitter.com\/ZByB7gCHAz<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cavs\/status\/1587956424138694657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 2, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Garland admitted he was &#8220;super scared,&#8221; per <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/3758176\/2022\/11\/03\/cavs-darius-garland-returns-eye-injury\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/3758176\/2022\/11\/03\/cavs-darius-garland-returns-eye-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Athletic<\/a> when his injury first happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I rolled over; I felt blood coming out of my eye. So that&#8217;s when I got really nervous. And I was ready for surgery in Toronto. I was expecting that. I was expecting stitches and being out a couple of months. But by the grace of God, I&#8217;m here with two eyes now, and I&#8217;m back, and I&#8217;m healthy.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The guard &#8220;tried to stay high&#8221; during his two weeks on the sideline, but he had his struggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Just sitting over there and just have to wait and just seeing everybody get loose warming up and going through full practice and stuff, it was just kinda aggravating. I just tried to stay high. My teammates, they were winning. They was doing well, so I was happy about that. But I just wanted to be on the floor with them. I wanted to feel that energy. But I&#8217;m happy to be back now.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Garland&#8217;s backcourt partner <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Donovan+Mitchell\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Donovan+Mitchell\" target=\"_blank\">Donovan Mitchell<\/a> doubled down on Garland&#8217;s excitement to be back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He looked &#8220;like a little kid&#8221; during shootaround, Mitchell said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;You could tell he was excited, just running around the gym, kinda just happy, a little bit of a different step to him. When you&#8217;re out for that long, and I&#8217;ve been there, it can kind of take a toll on you.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coach <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/j-b-bickerstaff-on-getting-evan-mobley-more-involved-offensively\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"764177\" target=\"_blank\">J.B Bickerstaff<\/a> echoed Mitchell. &#8220;I mean, like you could feel it. [Garland] was excited this morning at shootaround. He was ready to contribute in a big way. And I mean, like, there was not any shyness to him. It was, I&#8217;m going out here, and I&#8217;m gonna assert myself on this game, and his teammates followed him.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"fr\" dir=\"ltr\">double-double DG<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fuboTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@fuboTV<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LetEmKnow?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LetEmKnow<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2FDVpwHj0w\">pic.twitter.com\/2FDVpwHj0w<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cavs\/status\/1588174550734348289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 3, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Vanderbilt product led the Cavs to a 114-112 OT win against the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/report-blake-griffin-joining-boston-celtics-on-one-year-deal\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"761222\" target=\"_blank\">Boston Celtics<\/a>, finishing with 29 points, 12 assists, five rebounds, and three steals. And, of course, the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/cleveland-cavaliers-buying-into-underdog-mentality-junkyard-dog-chain\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"763725\" target=\"_blank\">Junkyard Dog Chain<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Boy, did I,&#8221; Mitchell said about missing Garland. &#8220;He really set the tone tonight. I can&#8217;t speak for everybody else; I just didn&#8217;t know what his rhythm was going to be like after being out (two weeks). I think that&#8217;s the biggest thing. When you have your legs, when you have your energy, you&#8217;re excited, and he came out like he&#8217;s been playing with us down this whole stretch. He&#8217;s going to score the ball, and his passing, man, he&#8217;s creating, finding guys, making the game look easy, and really kind of sparked us, especially in that first half. Always under control. It&#8217;s great to have him out there.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A Junkyard Dog and a Spider \ud83d\ude24\ud83d\udd77<br><br>*The energy is amazing* <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LetEmKnow?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LetEmKnow<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/l4L9aG5JhN\">pic.twitter.com\/l4L9aG5JhN<\/a><\/p>&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1588005056997203970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 3, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that the Cavs have Garland back, the Cleveland quartet of Mitchell, Garland, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/jarrett-allen-all-star-vol-2\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"738735\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jarrett Allen<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/j-b-bickerstaff-on-getting-evan-mobley-more-involved-offensively\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"764177\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Evan Mobley<\/a> can continue to build their chemistry and solidify their spot atop the Eastern Conference. The Cavs look to extend their record to 7-1 with a win against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/isaiah-stewart-embracing-heart-and-soul-role-for-the-pistons\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"763805\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pistons<\/a> tomorrow night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Darius Garland took the floor for the first time in two weeks last night. Garland didn&#8217;tmissed a beat despite doing no live work since he suffered a laceration on the inside of his eyelid in Cleveland&#8217;s season opener against the Raptors. He stepped on the court ready to go and recorded the highest-scoring opening quarter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":492,"featured_media":764811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62698,18,63826,62493],"tags":[91,13006,36492,9617,60581,64711,14147,64724],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-764801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cleveland-cavaliers","category-nba","category-news","category-newswire","tag-boston-celtics","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-darius-garland","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-evan-mobley","tag-j-b-bickerstaff-2","tag-jarrett-allen","tag-junkyard-dog-chain"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/492"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764801"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":764831,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764801\/revisions\/764831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764801"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=764801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}