Darius Garland puts up 34 on Knicks in Cavaliers’ win, earns praise from Donovan Mitchell

It was a rough night for New York sports fans. The Yankees’ bats went quiet against the Dodgers when the World Series returned to the Bronx. After Monday’s loss to the Steelers, Giants fans should start watching more Colorado football to scout Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, or Miami to watch quarterback Cameron Ward, because it’s all about the draft.

At Madison Square Garden, it was the Darius Garland show in the fourth quarter as he scored 15 of his 34 on the night and lifted the now 4-0 Cavaliers past New York.

There have been a lot of questions about whether Mitchell and Garland can make it work playing together — and Garland took the brunt of it — but they have played well together in new coach Kenny Atkinson’s system to start the season. After the win in New York, Mitchell praised Garland and called out the young guard’s critics, via Chris Fedor at Cleveland.com.

“I just want everybody who was on that side to stay on that side when it comes to him. I don’t want there to be a switch-up. I know who a lot of y’all are,” Mitchell said in reference to the incessant criticism Garland received in the last year. “There are times throughout your career when you have years like that. Obviously, he was going through things personally. You have to grow. You have to figure it out. A lot of people said he couldn’t…

“It’s a four-game sample but I have no doubt that’s who he is going to be for us this season. That’s who he was when he was drafted. That’s who he was when he was an All-Star. I know what type of player he is. I know we can fit together. You’re seeing it. This is probably the best four games that we have continually put together. That is going to continue because we are going to continue to believe in what we can do. There is a confidence about him this year.”

It is just four games — three against teams expected to be in the lottery — but the Cavaliers have a +15.2 net rating so far this season when Mitchell and Garland share the court. Small sample size or not, that’s a promising sign.

There are a lot of promising signs around Cleveland right now — this could become a dangerous team in the East.