Darius Garland in the Garden, it has a nice ring to it. Less than ringing though, the dominant sounds in the Cavs win last night against the Knicks were thuds, the deep resonance of bodies colliding in motion and feet, seconds before airborne, hitting the floor.
Garland welcomed contact all game but stepped it up in the fourth quarter, picking a Jalen Brunson dead set on steamrolling to the basket up at mid-court and forcing Brunson to slow through him. Garland stripped the ball by making Brunson absolutely stuck, deceleration via sucking all the momentum out of him. Garland used it at both ends, this method of forcing the tempo to control the game. Went downhill offensively, tip-toeing to the baseline for an off-balance layup or shouldering though defenders, drawing them close, just to snap the ball backward to Jarrett Allen now with a clean runway to the rim.
You’re likely familiar with Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the concept that to achieve self-actualization people must have their basic needs met first. Carl Rogers put a light spin on the theory, arguing instead that humans innately hold the tendency toward self-actualization, but that their environment dictates whether or not they’ll realize it. I’ll admit that my perspective of the Cavs has long been biased — I am embarrassingly fond of Jarrett Allen, and have been since he and Caris LeVert created identity out of nothing for the Nets — but what we’re seeing now through the first four games of this season, this fleet-footed dominance, this assurance through deep skill, was not gifted by gaining Donovan Mitchell, but has been here all along.
Without a doubt, Mitchell nudged something in Cleveland. Athletes with the star quality of Mitchell tend to move like self-contained environments (sometimes universes), and the people around necessarily adapt. This is where Rogers’ theory kicks in. What the Cavs had pre-Mitchell were the same hard-fought talents, perhaps a little more raw, less controlled, the same belief that they were good enough to not just be hanging around at the top by fluke but securing their spot up there. Mitchell brought with him from Utah an environment of self-actualization and it fit perfectly with what the Cavs already created: tight-knit trust in each other, quiet confidence, never the loudest or flashiest but emphatic in their actions.
Cleveland’s runway last season took a bit of a hit with injury and personal tragedy. Garland was on a liquid diet, getting his only nutrients through a straw after he suffered a fractured jaw last winter, and lost his grandmother, who had been a significant part of his life. Allen had a broken rib in the playoffs, Mitchell and Evan Mobley were out in stretches with ankle and knee injuries, and after an abrupt playoff exit there were rumours that Mitchell would leave in the off-season. Whatever the veracity of those rumours doesn’t matter with Mitchell, in an interview after the Knick win, instructing Garland’s detractors to “stay on that side” of disbelief if they’re still determined to stick with it, turning actualization into a physical line.
Sometimes stating a change is enough to make it true. Even if you’re pointing out what’s been there all along, naming it can give it shape, substance. This Cavs team is firmly on one side of the line now, and inviting the rest of us to step over.
