Garland doesn’t think there’s rivalry with Suggs: ‘Y’all gassed it’

A rivalry is brewing between the Cavs and Magic even if Garland wants to downplay his personal one with Suggs.

Darius Garland and Jalen Suggs had a few exchanges of words during the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic’s first-round series last season. Most notably, their confrontation in Game 4 that spurred a run for Orlando that resulted in a blowout victory for them.

Garland tried to downplay any animosity between the two after Cleveland’s win on Friday.

“I don’t think it’s a rivalry,” Garland said. “Y’all gassed it. I don’t think it’s a rivalry, but he’s a great player. Congratulations to him. He got paid this summer. He’s only going to get better. But [I] don’t consider it a rivalry.”

Jalen Suggs might see things differently. At least when it comes to these two teams.

“I just didn’t want to lose here to be honest,” Suggs said. “I didn’t want to come out of the game. I didn’t want to face that reality. . . . These losses hurt.”

Both players led their teams in scoring. Suggs contributed 28 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. Garland put up 25 points in 29 minutes with four assists in what has been a good start to his season.

“He’s playing with swag,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said of Garland. “He’s got that floater going. . . . He took nine threes. I said, ‘We needed one more. We need 10.’ . . . [He’s a] heck of a player. He’s playing really well.”

Garland looked like a completely different player than the one we saw in their meeting in the playoffs. He’s playing with a level of freedom and joy that didn’t exist last spring. Garland is a big reason why the Cavs currently have the third-best offense in the league.

Even though Garland may want to downplay the rivalry between him and Suggs, something is brewing there between these two teams. Especially with how the Cavs fans booed Moe Wagner all game Friday and his comments about not liking it afterward. The Cavs and Magic faceoff twice more in the regular season.