When the Cleveland Cavaliers lost Evan Mobley midway into the third quarter against the Boston Celtics, it felt like a full-blown crisis was at hand. With Mobley out, the Cavs were even thinner on the interior, and that hurts twice as much considering they were already without Donovan Mitchell and Max Strus against the Celtics. But, the fear that was starting to percolate washed away once Cleveland big man Jarrett Allen stepped up against Boston and helped guide the Cavs to an improbable 105-104 victory over the Celtics at home.

By the time the final buzzer sounded, Allen had finished with 21 points on 51.6% shooting, 12 rebounds, two assists, and a block in roughly 35 minutes of action. More impressively, Allen had 0 fouls despite having to spend the evening defending Boston bigs like Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis, and Luke Kornet down low.

But, as Allen shared postgame, what makes facing the Celtics such a unique challenge for him is how Boston forces him not to match up with just fellow bigs on offense. Instead, he's spending time battling everyone the Celtics have to offer whenever he's on the floor.

“It's just how they play,” said Allen to ClutchPoints postgame. “They have a very unique style of playing basketball. They don't put the five on the five. They don't put the four on the four. Sometimes Derrick White was on me or sometimes Porzingis was on me. At that point, for me, it's just trying to figure out the right matchup to set a screen or sometimes it's not my turn to set the screen. Like, one time they had Porzingis on Isaac [Okoro] and it was his job to set the screen and I just have to find the open spot to get the dumpoff.

“For me, it's a mind game on how to best extort their defense.”

Allen went on to share with ClutchPoints that playing this game within a game against Boston has become second nature to him at this point. To Allen, it's something the Celtics have utilized against opponents for years.

While it's clearly effective for Boston most nights, especially with the Celtics owning the NBA's best record, to Allen, having knowledge of how Boston is going to defend him without making serious adjustments makes it easy for him to thrive and continually dominate the Celtics inside.

“There is no secret that we're at our best when Jarrett Allen is at his best,” said Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. “There is no secret that when he is dominant on both ends of the floor, our basketball team is the best that it's going to be.”

“… I thought he did a phenomenal job but he always has. But when the chips were down, he was there. He was the constant throughout the game for us.”

Bickerstaff isn't wrong about Allen being the constant force for the Cavs against the Celtics. But, it's been like this all season long for Cleveland's star big man battles Boston.

This season, Allen is averaging 14.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks in 37.0 minutes per game whenever the Cavs faces the Celtics. That's consistent pressure Allen sends Boston's way and it's because he's solved the game within the game that the Celtics try to throw at him whenever he's on the floor.

While Allen can't exploit it anymore this regular season, this knowledge he unlocked could be a key factor for Cleveland down the line. Especially if they run into Boston during the playoffs.