Game Night Observations: Garland's Free Throws, Sengun's Shove, and a "Good" Loss

The Cleveland Cavaliers fall to 36-7 on the season after losing to Houston on Wednesday night.

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Houston Rockets 109-108 on Wednesday night to fall to 36-7 on the season.

There’s a first time for everything in sports. On Wednesday, it was the first time that Cavs guard Darius Garland missed five free throws in a single game. Two of the misses came in the final seconds with the game on the line after being fouled attempting a 3-pointer with four seconds left in regulation. The call was reviewed by the officiating crew, led by crew chief James Williams (we’ll get to this later) and upgraded to a flagrant foul, penalty 1, meaning Garland got three free throws and the Cavs kept the ball.

With the Cavs trailing by two points as that unfolds, the likelihood of a Cleveland win skyrockets. Garland, who entered Wednesday missing 14 free throws total in his first 41 games of the season, had a bad night from the free throw line. Nothing more, nothing less. This doesn’t make Garland any lesser of a player and it doesn’t take away from the All-NBA caliber season that he’s had to date. It’s a tough moment, certainly, but not one that defines his season, or his future.

It was a very out of character moment for Garland, in the same way much of Wednesday night was out of character for who the Cavs have been. This season, Garland has been one of the best players in the NBA in “clutch”¹ situations. Among players that have played in at least 15 clutch games this season, Garland ranks ninth in the points per game. He has a better shooting percentage — 64.5 percent — than all eight players above him. The next best shooting percentage of a high volume clutch scorer is Denver’s Nikola Jokic, who is shooting 54 percent. Garland came into Wednesday making 13 of his 15 clutch free throw attempts, too. For the season, he was shooting 90.1 percent at the line prior to Wednesday.

That’s what makes Garland’s crucial misses at the foul line such an anomaly. Garland’s mishap(s) came at an intersection of two of his most comfortable spots the game has to offer.