Cavs' Darius Garland named Eastern Conference Player of the Week

The NBA is seeing what Cavaliers fans have seen all year — stellar play from point guard Darius Garland. Garland was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played from Jan. 6 through Sunday. This is Garland's second player of the week honor this season and third of his career. He joins LeBron James (42 times), Kyrie Irving (4) and Donovan Mitchell (4) as the only Cleveland players to win the prestigious award three times or more. Only Boston's Jayson Tatum and Denver's Nikola Jokic have won the weekly award multiple times this season. The 6-foot-1, 192-pound Garland led the Cavs to a 2-1 record last week and has helped them amass an NBA-best 33-5 mark this season. It's the fastest start in Cleveland history and tied for the sixth-best start in NBA history. During the week, the 24-year-old averaged a team-high 26 points and 7.7 assists while shooting .528 from the field, .409 from the 3-point line and .929 from the foul line. He was the only player in the NBA to average at least 20 points and seven assists while shooting at least .500 from the field, .400 on 3-pointers and .900 at the line. On the season, the fifth-year pro is averaging 20.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting .498 from the field, .429 from behind the 3-point line and .917 from foul line. Garland opened the week with 18 points and seven assists in the Cavs' decision over the Oklahoma City Thunder, which had their 15-game win streak snapped. He followed by recording a season-high 40 points and nine assists in a victory over the upset-minded Toronto Raptors. Garland had 20 points and seven assists in the loss to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, which snapped Cleveland's 12-game winning streak. Bob Finnan can be reached at rfinnan30@gmail.com. Follow him @BobCavsinsider on X.