PHILADELPHIA — The horrible third quarter sight has become far too familiar.
Cavs point guard Darius Garland dropped to the floor after losing the ball — and stayed down in agony for an extended period.
Even after Philadelphia All-Star Tyrese Maxey sprinted the other way and threw down a breakaway dunk that cut Cleveland’s lead to 11 at the time, Garland remained on the court, almost motionless, clutching at his right foot while concerned teammates, coaches and trainers surrounded him.
Eventually, he was helped up and slowly limped to the bench. With a towel draped over his head, Garland received a brief examination from head trainer Steve Spiro before exiting to the locker room.
Garland did not return. He was ruled out with what is currently being classified as a right foot injury.
“I don’t think it’s great for next game,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said when asked about his concern level following the 133-107 victory. “But I can’t tell you what it looks like longer term.”
Garland has been dealing with turf toe on his left foot dating to last season. It was first a problem last March and then carried into Cleveland’s shorter-than-expected playoff run, which ended in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Pacers. After initially trying to let the toe recover on its own, Garland opted for summer surgery that caused him to miss all of training camp and the first few weeks of the 2025-26 regular season.
He just recently started to regain his pre-injury form, feeling healthy, trusting the toe and using his signature speed, quickness and shiftiness to attack helpless defenders.
If there’s any silver lining, this latest injury is unrelated to that one.
Going into Wednesday night, Garland was averaging 17.9 points and 6.9 assists in 25 games this season. He tallied 20 points — his third consecutive game with at least that many — and seven assists in 23 minutes before exiting Wednesday with injury.
There was no further word on the severity as the Cavs left Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena.
“He’s a fighter,” teammate Donovan Mitchell said of Garland. “It’s one of those things where you see that and you have to go from concern to like, OK, time to kind of go into go-mode because it was an 11-point game at the time. The other team might see that and be like, here we go. He was hooping, getting downhill, creating and setting the tone. Obviously, there’s concern always. That’s my brother. But it was like, alright, let’s continue to be aggressive and respond back. We did that as a group.”
Prior to his postgame session with reporters, Mitchell — who erupted for 35 points, including 27 in the second half — had a brief interaction with Garland, but didn’t have much information to disclose.
“I haven’t even asked,” Mitchell said. “He’s in good spirits. That’s always a good sign. That’s all we have.”
In addition to Garland, the Cavaliers saw sharpshooting reserve Sam Merrill leave in the first half because of a right hand injury — the same hand that sidelined Merrill for a month earlier this season.
When he left the locker room about 30 minutes after the game, Merrill had a splint on the index and middle fingers of his right hand, something he used for protection after suffering a sprained right hand on Nov. 17 — an injury that cost him straight 14 games.
Similar to that injury, Wednesday night was the result of a collision on defense, as Merrill attempted to guard Maxey who drove toward the paint and earned two free throws on the play.
Merrill felt pain immediately. He kept grabbing at his right hand. Was even hunched over while Maxey took his freebies. Even though Merrill attempted to play through the pain for a few possessions, it eventually became too much, and he departed for the locker room. Merrill did not come out for halftime warmups and was not on the bench at any point in the second half.
Atkinson labeled both Garland and Merrill as “doubtful” to suit up when the teams play again Friday in Philadelphia.
