Forget Donovan Mitchell, Kenny Atkinson picks out another Cleveland Cavaliers star for inspiring win vs Jazz

Amid a remarkable season which landed them amongst one of the historic regular season teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers recently hit their biggest challenge. 

Donovan Mitchell, had admitted to struggling for form with a terrible showing against the Suns, and he played a key role in winning against his former team the Jazz.

But beyond Mitchell’s stellar play, head coach Kenny Atkinson credited another Cleveland star for drumming the team’s war cry towards a much-needed victory.

Kenny Atkinson praises Darius Garland for boosting Cavs’ morale on their eventual win against Jazz

Darius Garland had an inconsistent showing in the Cavs’ wire-to-wire win over the Jazz, shooting 4-of-13 from the field (2-of-8) en route to a 12-point outing across 26 minutes of play.

But amid a passive showing, he was still the one responsible for igniting the Cavaliers to turn it up and dominate the matchup according to Kenny Atkinson.

In his postgame interview, the head coach recounted how Garland influenced the Cavs to enjoy the moment which resulted in the weekend victory.

“I think DG was on it,” Atkinson said. “He said during one of the timeouts, he goes, ‘Coach, what about fun? Let’s enjoy this, let’s have fun, let’s compete hard’.

“I said okay, let’s have some fun. Put a smile on your face. We love this game. I do think we’re in that little bit of a patch here. We’re just in a little patch where we haven’t had that joyous spirit.

“So it was good to see us get back to that.”

Garland confident the Cavs would bounce back

Indeed, the Cavs were heavily tested over their past four games.

Cleveland has been residing atop the NBA leaderboard all season long, prompting the majority in considering them as one of the clear favorites to win it all alongside the Oklahoma City Thunder and the reigning defending champion Boston Celtics. An NBA legend also praised them for their stellar year.

Amid the sudden doubts and worries around them after hitting a losing stretch, Garland didn’t panic as he remained optimistic and convinced about his Cavs team’s capabilities to fight back and redeem themselves.

“It happens, everybody loses games,” Garland said. “We know how good we are and we know how locked in we have to be to win important games, so just trying to get back to that.

“We knew that we were going to hit a stretch and we were going to hit a wall one day. That’s just how the world works, unfortunately, so those four games were our days that we didn’t look great or didn’t have a great game.

“So just trying to get back on track over here and lead on to another 16 [wins], hopefully.”

As their record improves to 57-14, the Cavs’ ability to rekindle their brilliance will be tested, facing the improving Portland Trail Blazers for the final leg of their grinding five-game road trip on March 25.