The Cleveland Cavaliers were the best team in the Eastern Conference during the regular season.
Unfortunately, that didn’t matter in the playoffs.
Everybody gets a clean slate, and all it takes is four wins to move on to the next round, regardless of record or seed.
That’s why several Cavs have been under heavy scrutiny for their poor playoff showing.
Notably, that includes Darius Garland, who again was exposed and targeted on defense.
With that in mind, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com called out Garland and urged him to show some pride on the defensive end of the floor, like other playoff-claiber guards have done.
“Is Garland too much of a defensive liability?” Fedor wrote. “At some point Garland will need to prove that he can be a capable defender in a way he has yet to show it over his first six seasons, including this most recent playoff run. It’s fair to wonder if he can ever do for the Cavs what [Jalen] Williams and [Shai] Gilgeous-Alexander have done for the [Oklahoma City] Thunder, what Tyrese Haliburton has done for the [Indiana] Pacers.”
To be fair, Garland was dealing with a toe injury that ultimately required him to have surgery, but it’s not like this is the first time he underperformed in the postseason.
Technique and instinct play a big part in defense, but most of it is just showing some effort.
Garland may never be a lockdown defender, and the Cavs perhaps don’t need him to be, but they can’t afford to have him be a liability.
He made some strides in the regular season and showed a willingness to stay close to his opponent at times.
However, he needs to show that effort consistently, especially in the playoffs.
Donovan Mitchell isn’t much of a defender either, but he at least makes up for it on offense in the postseason.
But having two defensive liabilities in the backcourt, one who also struggles to score in the playoffs, might be too much to overcome.
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