“We’re not hiding you. You’re good enough. Accept the challenge.”
The Boston Celtics won a championship by creating mismatches, exploiting them, and hitting a ton of threes along the way. Putting smaller guards, like Darius Garland, in mismatches and then getting the defense in rotation is exactly what their offense is designed to do. Instead of hiding Garland from those situations, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson wants him to embrace them.
“I just told him in the locker room, ‘You know, I don’t want to hide him anymore,’” Atkinson said. “It’s playoff basketball. He’s got to accept the challenge. We did do some different things, you know, tactically to help him out a little bit, but we went back to our regular coverage, and he got two big stops at the end. Didn’t foul. He’s smart, he’s fast, he’s strong. I don’t see why he can’t be a really good defender, and he’s showing he can.”
That was on display in two of the Celtics’ final possessions down the stretch. Jayson Tatum got Garland to switch onto him. In both instances, Garland forced a missed shot.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to show, but definetely give the credit to the off-season work,” Garland said about guarding Tatum. “Just trying to stay consistent in the weight room just for moments like this, getting switched onto bigger guys, MVP caliber guys, and try to make it tough for him.”
It’d be disingenuous to act like this happened every time Garland was guarding a bigger player. But the mismatch hunting slowed Boston’s high-octane offense down and Garland more than held his own in those situations. His defense, as much as Mitchell’s 20-point fourth quarter, allowed the Cavs to come away with the victory.
Cleveland’s defense worked because they left Garland on an island. They stayed with their assignment on the perimeter which forced Boston to get inside the three-point line. That alone is a win even if they did make a few shots over Garland.
“They’re a three-point shooting team,” Donovan Mitchell said. “You know, if they’re taking tough, contested twos, and he’s continuing to, you know, body them and make it tough we’ll live. It’s the NBA. Guys are gonna hit shots.”
Getting used to these situations is something he will need to continue to do for Cleveland’s defense to work in the playoffs.
Winning regular season games is important for the Cavs, but they’ve reached the point in their development cycle where everything they do is about preparing for the playoffs. Forcing Garland to do this in the regular season is incredibly important for getting the Cavs where they want to be.
“This goes back to me watching the playoffs last year, and, you know, I think they did different things to hide him,” Atkinson said. “My point to Darius [was], ‘We’re not hiding you. You’re good enough. Accept the challenge. You’re smart enough.’ Because I think when you start doing the tricky stuff, these teams are too good. You gotta be able to switch. And if he’s gonna play at the end of games, he’s gotta be able to switch.”
Garland’s performance on Sunday showed that he’s capable of doing that. Atkinson has consistently said since training camp that he believes in Garland’s defensive abilities. He’s proving his coach correct right now.
“I’m going to take that challenge whenever it is,” Garland said. “I’m no punk. So if y’all want to switch and to x me out and try to just hunt me out, that’s cool. I ain’t no punk though. I’m gonna take a challenge.”
