Cavs Rule Darius Garland Out For Game 3 Against Heat With Sprained Toe

All-Star guard Darius Garland was ruled out by the Cleveland Cavaliers for Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Saturday against the Miami Heat because of a sprained left big toe.

Garland aggravated the injury late in Game 2 of the series on Wednesday, the Cavs winning that game to go up 2-0 in the matchup. Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said Garland would go through a pregame warmup to determine if he could "give it a whirl" in Game 3.

Evidently, that did not go well. The Cavs said about 30 minutes before game time that Garland would not play.

It was the latest event in a newsy few days for Garland, who created a stir - and raised Miami's ire a bit - by saying after Game 2 that Cleveland's offensive game plan was to "pick on Tyler Herro."

Herro, Miami's All-Star guard, wasn't amused and responded Friday. "To go to the media to talk about the game plan and this and that says a lot about him," Herro said. "I'm not worried about Darius Garland. Somebody that doesn't play defense shouldn't be talking, either."