MIAMI – Darius Garland wasn't out there to, as he put it, “pick on” Tyler Herro on Saturday. And as it turns out, that really was just a part of the Cleveland game plan anyway.
No, on Saturday, the Cavs picked on everyone in a Miami uniform.
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Garland, an All-Star guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers, was ruled out for Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Saturday against the Miami Heat because of a sprained left big toe.
Sam Merrill — who replaced Garland in the starting lineup — finished with zero points. Donovan Mitchell scored only 13, well below his norm. The Cavaliers simply rolled anyway, topping the Heat 124-87 to move one game away from Round 2.
“That's who we've been all year,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We're deep and we're skilled.”
Missing the game was the latest event in a newsy few days for Garland, who created a stir — and raised Miami’s ire a bit — by saying after Game 2 that Cleveland’s offensive game plan was to “pick on Tyler Herro.”
Herro, Miami’s All-Star guard, wasn’t amused and responded Friday. “To go to the media to talk about the game plan and this and that says a lot about him,” Herro said. “I’m not worried about Darius Garland. Somebody that doesn’t play defense shouldn’t be talking, either.”
But the Cavs kept going at Herro on Saturday, swarming Miami’s first offensive option and holding him to 13 points on 5 of 13 shooting. Bam Adebayo scored 22 for Miami; he had to shoot 9 for 20 to get there.
“That’s a sign of great respect," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Cleveland keying on Herro and Adebayo. "Tyler’s earned that. He’s absolutely earned that kind of respect. It’s a man-to-man, but it’s a box-in-one man-to-man. They’re denying him all over the place because they know how dangerous he can be. And the same thing with Bam. Bam creates so many triggers and opportunities for us, especially when he catches it in the paint. They’re swarming.”
Garland aggravated his injury late in Game 2 of the series on Wednesday, the Cavs winning that to go up 2-0 in the matchup. That meant there was no on-court Herro vs. Garland showdown Saturday.
“Tyler’s a great player. He’s an All-Star. Great competitor, great competitor on both ends, much like Darius,” Atkinson said. “It’s like the playground, right? You go out there ... sometimes there’s some verbal stuff. I think it’s overblown. And once that ball is thrown up, none of that stuff matters.”
Garland averaged 24 points (second on the team behind Mitchell) and a team-best seven assists per game in the first two games of the series.
For the season, Garland averaged 20.6 points and 6.7 assists for Cleveland. The Cavs are 62-15 when Garland plays this season, including playoffs, and 5-3 when he does not.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA