Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson was left bemused by Darius Garland's absence from All-Star voting after he "carried" the team to their 12th straight win on Thursday. (More Sports News)
The Cavs improved to 33-4 for the season 바카라“ and 20-1 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse 바카라“ with a 132-126 victory over the Toronto Raptors, with Garland taking centre-stage.
He had a season-high 40 points as well as two rebounds and nine assists, while Evan Mobley finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
Cleveland are now tied for the fifth-best record in NBA history through 37 games, but Atkinson believes their latest victory was solely down to one man.
"He carried us," Atkinson said of Garland. "This is the first game all year I felt like one guy carried us.
"He carried us. We weren't good, you know, but he single-handedly took over this game."
Garland's 40-point haul was almost double his per-game average of 20.4 in 2024-25, while he is also averaging 6.7 assists and has shot at 42.9% from 3-point range.
Despite this, Garland was excluded from the shortlist when All-Star voting began last month, with Donovan Mitchell 바카라“ who was rested on Thursday 바카라“ the only Cavs player to make the cut.
"If he is not an All-Star, I don바카라™t know what an All-Star looks like," Atkinson said.Â
The head coach continued: "I don't know if it counts clutch numbers바카라¦ He makes big plays for us at the end of the game, he's been incredible on the clutch, shooting the ball great, playing good defense... I just don't know.Â
"I look around the league, I respect the league but I don't know who is [better]바카라¦ He's got to be in the top tier, the All-Star tier."
Cleveland are back in action against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, before going on the road to face the same opponents on Tuesday.
