Cavaliers’ Garland missing in action

On Tuesday night, Darius Garland single-handedly took over and carried the Cavaliers to their first victory of this opening-round playoff series against the Knicks.

On Friday, that kind of performance from Garland was nowhere to be found. Whether it was hostile atmosphere of the young guard’s first road playoff game or the Knicks’ suffocating defense, Garland struggled through a disastrous night in a 99-79 loss at the Garden

The All-Star missed his first eight shots from the field. He went 1-for-7 on 3-point attempts. He made just four of 21 shots from the field, committed three turnovers and posted a minus-21 rating in 33 forgettable minutes.

“He missed some shots he normally makes. Just try to make it tough for him every single night,” the Knicks’ Immanuel Quickley said. “Try to get a hand up when he shoots. That’s all you can do with really good players.”

This was the opposite of Game 2, when Garland poured in 32 points, 26 in the first half, in a memorable performance. But he couldn’t find that magic in enemy territory, as the Knicks held him to 10 points.

Garland had some clean looks, particularly early. But his shot wasn’t falling. At one point, he threw up an air ball and heard it from the electric, sold-out crowd. He began hesitating, even missed a wideopen layup early in the fourth quarter. On the play, he rolled his left ankle, tripping on a baseline cameraman. As he sat on the bench getting the ankle looked at, Garland smacked the court. He did return, but didn’t make much of an impact.

As a team, the Cavaliers shot 38.8 percent from the field, went 7-for-33 on 3-point attempts.

“I think it’s somewhat natural to try to do the best thing for the team, and sometimes we end up making the right play, making the simple play and that’s the biggest thing. There were times that I feel like we got away from that and we’ll fix it, we’ll adjust,” Donovan Mitchell said. “But we shot like crap, man. We didn’t make a shot — open ones, contested ones, whatever it is.”