On Monday evening, the Cleveland Cavaliers took a brutal loss to the Miami Heat by a score of 140-138. The Cavs tied this game up at 138 thanks to a miraculous corner three by Donovan Mitchell, but unfortuantely had a breakdown on the ensuing Heat inbounds pass, relinquishing a winning dunk from Andrew Wiggins.
Making matters worse for the Cavs was that Darius Garland, who just recently returned to the lineup after missing the first chunk of the season due to injury, exited this game with a toe injury.
After the game, Mitchell spoke on what he said to Garland in the wake of the injury.
“I came back here with him, and I said, ‘Hey, this is a part of it. I’d rather this happen today than in four or five months.’ This is all of a part of it,” said Mitchell, per Spencer Davies of ClutchPoints. “And it’s easy for me to say that, right? It’s easy for us to sit here and say, ‘You’ll be fine,’ and he’s not trying to hear that.
“But at the end of the day, there’s gonna be setbacks. There’s gonna be things that happen. It’s not about him not working. I could see if he was upset because you didn’t do the things necessary, but he’s been in the gym, he’s been working on himself. It’s nothing to be worried about.”
Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson did not have an update on the injury in the postgame press conference, but said he believes it is the same toe that kept Garland out to open up the season.
The Cavs had done a nice job of weathering the absences of both Garland and Max Strus to open up the season but would love to have both players back in the lineup sooner rather than later.
The Cavs will next hit the floor on Wednesday, once again in Miami for a rematch against the Heat.
