Social media was not kind to Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland on Wednesday night.
With his team trailing the Houston Rockets 109-107 in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, Garland received an inbounds pass from teammate Ty Jerome and attempted a go-ahead three-pointer. Though the shot missed, Rockets forward Tari Eason was called for a reckless closeout on Garland. After review, the referees upgraded the foul to a flagrant foul, giving the Cavaliers three shots AND possession of the ball.
Rockets foul Darius Garland on the three with seconds left pic.twitter.com/OB8CIpzPmg
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 23, 2025
Eason’s mistake looked like a death sentence for the Rockets. But Garland let Eason off the hook with doozy of his own.
Garland, who is a 90.1 percent free throw shooter this season, missed the first free throw. Then Garland also (oof) missed the second one. While Garland at least got the third free throw to go, the damage was done, and Cavs teammate Donovan Mitchell missed a tough turnaround at the buzzer as Houston held on to win 109-108.
90% FT SHOOTER DARIUS GARLAND MISSES BACK-TO-BACK FREE THROWS WITH A CHANCE TO WIN IT
ROCKETS SURVIVE pic.twitter.com/vinQr70jck
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 23, 2025
Poor Garland couldn’t even help but laugh there at the free throw line in disbelief. He looked like Nick Anderson in the 1995 Finals.
In response to the unbelievable choke job by Garland, X users all cracked the same joke. They compared Garland’s choke to Grant Williams’ eerily similar choke at the free throw line from 2023.
Darius Garland tonight pic.twitter.com/XHRA4i7CVs
— Mike Zakarian (@MikeZakarian) January 23, 2025
Darius Garland at the free throw long game in the balance pic.twitter.com/5LqlhCEv0w
— subscribe to the state of the league patreon (@JoestarJokic) January 23, 2025
DARIUS GARLAND IN THE CLUTCH pic.twitter.com/NoHiQ2QbQb
— (@hyattwatcher) January 23, 2025
Darius Garland with the game on the line pic.twitter.com/6FMgYDBYDu
— Paulos (@LoswitheMos) January 23, 2025
During that 2023 game, which ironically came against the Cavs, Williams (then with the Boston Celtics) got two free throws in the final second of the fourth quarter with the score tied 109-109. He confidently told the Cleveland star Mitchell that he would make both … and ended up missing both instead (as the Cavs went on to beat the Celtics in overtime).
Now on Wednesday, it was Cleveland’s turn to dine on that end of the table. While Garland, who is averaging 21.2 points and 6.7 assists per game this season, is having a sublime year and has been getting All-Star love from fans, there is no denying that he really blew it there against the Rockets.
