Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star guard Darius Garland is set to make his return Wednesday night against the Boston Celtics after missing the last five games due to an eye injury, per The Athletic. Garland got poked in the eye in the first 13 minutes of Cleveland's season opener against the Toronto Raptors and has been sidelined since.
Garland will be rejoining a Cavaliers team that currently holds a 5-1 record, the fourth-ranked offense and the third-ranked defense so far this season. Without Garland, the Cavaliers have been one of the early impressive teams this season, in large part due to the play of Donovan Mitchell, who has taken on a bulk of the scoring and playmaking responsibility in his absence. Adding Garland back to a team that boasts one of the best offenses in the league right now may take some adjustment to start, but it'll only make Cleveland even more dynamic.
The fact that the Cavs fared so well without Garland speaks to the impact Mitchell has had on this team since being traded to Cleveland in the offseason, as well as the development of younger guys on the team. A season ago, Cleveland fell apart whenever Garland wasn't on the floor, scoring 9.1 points per 100 possessions less when he was on the bench, per Cleaning the Glass. But part of the reason Cleveland traded for Mitchell was to pair Garland with another dynamic ballhandler, capable of splitting playmaking responsibilities and lightening the load on Garland's shoulders.
With the Cavs sitting second in the Eastern Conference right now, it's safe to say that Mitchell has checked off a lot of the boxes Cleveland was hoping he would when it acquired him. Now with Garland back in the fold, the two can begin to create chemistry and the Cavaliers can build upon the success they had to start the season. The first real test will come immediately against a Boston Celtics team that will test the Cavaliers on defense, as well as make life difficult for them on the other end. If the Cavs manage to get a win against the Celtics it'll certainly make a statement around the league, telling other teams that this Cleveland squad is even better than anyone expected.
