All-Star point guard Darius Garland was watching the scoreboard, but not his individual statistics on Sunday night. He received a pleasant surprise.
Garland poured in a career-high 51 points — 27 of them in the fourth quarter — and made a career-best 10 3-pointers as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost 129-124 to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Cleveland had trailed 99-75 late in the third.
“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.
Cleveland, which lost its fourth in a row, played without injured All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen. Mitchell was sidelined with a sprained right ankle, while Allen sat out with a sore left ankle.
D’Angelo Russell had season highs of 30 points and 12 assists and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 29 points to help the Timberwolves overcome Garland’s onslaught.
“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.”
Garland made two free throws with 8.3 seconds left to pull Cleveland within 126-124, but Russell made it 127-124 from the foul line. Kevin Love threw away the subsequent inbounds pass and Taurean Prince made two free throws to lock up the win.
Russell made 11 of 13 shots, including 4 of 5 3-pointers, and Towns grabbed 13 rebounds for Minnesota, which snapped a three-game losing streak. Prince had 19 points off the bench and Rudy Gobert added 15 points and 12 rebounds.