Sunday was a very high-scoring day around the NBA. There were a lot of big offensive showings by teams around the league and some very impressive offensive performances as well.
One of the most impressive was by Darius Garland of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Garland is rounding back into shape after being forced to miss five games because of an eye injury suffered in the season opener against the Toronto Raptors when Gary Trent Jr. accidentally poked him in the eye.
On Sunday, Garland was locked in as the Minnesota Timberwolves had no way of slowing him down. Garland poured in a career-high 51 points, knocking down 16-of-31 from the field overall and a scorching 10-of-15 from 3-point range.
It was the 75th time in NBA history that a player made at least 10 3-pointers in a single game and he became the 43rd different player to accomplish the feat.
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Focused solely on trying to help his team get a win with Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen both sidelined, Garland wasn’t even aware of the scoring output he was putting forth.
“I didn’t even know I had 50 until I went to the bench,” Garland said. “No one told me and I wasn’t paying attention to anything, except trying to win the game.
“That’s the great thing about this group of guys. No one cares about individual numbers. It’s all about the team.”
Unfortunately for Garland and the Cavaliers, his scoring outburst was not enough to help get the Cavaliers a victory. They fell to the Timberwolves 129-124 as five players on Minnesota scored in double-figures, four of which had at least 15 points.
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Minnesota head coach Chris Finch even heaped praise on Garland’s performance against his team on Sunday. However, it is a lot easier to speak that highly of an opposing player when it is your team coming away with the win.
“Garland is a phenomenal young player, and he got super hot,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said. “When guys like him get hot, there is no shutting them down, so you’ve got to really, really work. But I’m not here to be super picky with our guys after a win.”
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The 51 points that Garland scored was the most in the NBA this season when the game concluded. However, that number didn’t even stand through until the end of the night.
Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers would top it just a little while later as he scored a career-high 59 points leading them to victory over the Utah Jazz.