In Game 1 against the Boston Celtics, Jarrett Allen is a game-time decision for the Cleveland Cavaliers due to his nagging rib injury.
Allen, a constant defensive presence on the interior for the Cavs, missed Cleveland's last three games in their round one tilt with the Orlando Magic due to the same injury. There hasn't been a concrete update on when Allen will return to action, and reports indicate that it's hard for him to lift his arms due to the pain he's dealing with.
So, with such a quick turnaround between Game 7 against Orlando and Game 1 in Boston, it feels unlikely that Allen will return for Cleveland to open the second round.
But while Allen might miss four games in a row, based on what Donovan Mitchell recently teased, he doesn't seem likely to be gone for the entire Eastern Conference semifinal battle between the Cavs and Celtics.
“There's an exhale because Jarrett's coming back, I will say that,” said Mitchell when asked if there was a sense of relief after the Cavs had advanced. ‘But you know, like I said, we won one series. I don't know how else to say it. This is great, and I'm happy we did it. But we haven't accomplished anything yet.
“We took care of business, and now we gotta get a road win; we haven't won a road game since I've been here, so we got to take care of business,” Mitchell continued. “That's it.”
Is Jarrett Allen's return imminent?
Mitchell having a killer instinct will keep driving Cleveland every time he's on the court. But his sharing the off-hand tease that Allen should be coming back in this series could and likely will give the Cavs a collective boost against the Celtics, the best team in the Eastern Conference.
Overall, Allen was Cleveland's fourth-best player against Boston in the regular season, behind Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Caris LeVert. Against the Celtics, Allen averaged 14.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.0 blocks in 37.0 minutes per game.
But while Allen, on paper, was the fourth-best player, it doesn't paint the full picture since he spent every regular season matchup defending Boston big man Kristaps Porzingis, a very different offensive threat compared to most traditional bigs.
While Porzingis is comfortable inside, he really shines when forcing traditional bigs like Allen to defend him in space as a shooting threat. But, likely to Porzingis's frustration, Allen has seemingly solved the game within the game when it comes to defending Porzingis, holding the Celtics star to 45.5% shooting on the floor.
Porzingis is unavailable to open this series due to a calf injury, and it seems unlikely Boston will rush him back to the court unless things are dire. So if Allen is back, he can still deter a less than 100% Porzingis if the Latvian big man ever returns to the hardwood.
More importantly, he can be a lockdown enforcer for the Cavs, focusing all of his defensive energy on stopping the Celtics at the rim and helping Cleveland set the tone on either end of the floor, just like he did in the first round against Orlando. Considering how talented the Celtics are, the Cavs will need all the help they can get, and if Allen returns early into the series, momentum could be on their side in what could become an Eastern Conference slugfest.
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