While Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen may not have won Cade Cunningham's NBA Player of the Month award for the Eastern Conference in February, his unbelievable 11-game showing can't be ignored. He averaged 22.3 points, 11.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 blocks in just under 30 minutes per contest for the Cavs, boasting a 74.0% field goal percentage.
That led all of the NBA, and, as ClutchPoints' Erik Slater wrote, he was the only player in the league to average 20 and 10 on at least 50% shooting.
After the team's last home game, a convincing 109-94 win over the New York Knicks one week ago, Larry Nance Jr. called attention to that dominance in Donovan Mitchell's postgame interview. He asked the All-Star guard about the “pantheon of greats” before the real question came out.
“There's Masked Kobe [Bryant], Jersey-Untucked Kyrie [Irving],” Nance said. “Where does Black History Month Jarrett Allen come into play?”
“I mean, Black History Month JA is definitely a thing at this point,” Mitchell responded, as Allen leaned in to listen. “Dr. JA. As soon as JA put the Black History Month shirt on, he just flipped. He's putting on for our people, ain't he? So, respect to JA. Black History Month JA is definitely up there with Masked Kyrie, Hoodie Melo [Anthony]. Let's make that a thing.”
As fun as that exchange was, the loud praise Allen received locker-room wide was well-earned and admirable.
Allen's been a sheer force on the interior, and his month started with what was described as a Hakeem Olajuwon-like performance against the Portland Trail Blazers. Allen scored a career-high 40 points to go with 17 boards, five assists, and four blocks. It had the locker room photoshopping his face over Wilt Chamberlain's famed “100” picture in celebration.
That would ultimately be a harbinger of what was coming in February, which saw him record nine double-doubles in 11 opportunities. With Evan Mobley sidelined due to a calf injury, Allen had been playing well even before the Cavs remade their roster with a franchise-altering trade for James Harden.
“He's just caught this wave, this momentum. He's playing out of his mind. I mean, both ends,” Atkinson said, noting his defensive rating of 84 against the Knicks. “He's playing great basketball. Confidence. I think that stretch with Evan out, his usage went way up. I think that gave him confidence. He started taking some risks out there. And then, he's always finished in the paint, right? First in the league in field goal percentage last year. So he can do that.”
But from the moment Harden suited up for the wine and gold, that connection has grown to be as natural as it gets. The 36-year-old's pick and roll savviness, combined with Allen's timing and footwork, is a match made in heaven.
“Being on the outside, JA, I can say he's better than I thought he was in a sense of he's able to catch the ball, finish around the rim with both hands,” Harden said. “He has so much touch around the rim, and that's I think probably one of the most underrated parts of his game. So just trying to find ways to get him the ball and in positions to where he can be successful, and same thing with Ev and all our bigs…
“… Just defensively, how active he is offensively, how he understands, when to roll to the basket, when to short roll, when to find a pocket, screening angles, different things like that. And he's so athletic; he gets into the roll. It's setting the screen out or screen fast, which I’ve got to get used to that. No disrespect to different players. [Ivica] Zubac is really good in his way, too, but Jarrett is more of a speed roller, so I’ve just got to get used to actually finding that pace.”
Allen admitted that Harden's arrival has only strengthened the positive play that has been consistent for a good month-and-a-half now.
“Just his patience,” Allen said. “He's not going to force any shot. He's not going to force any lob all the time. He's not going to try to make the hero play. He's going to try to pick the other team apart, just try to understand their defense and try to make the right play.”
“Just attack-minded, aggressive, assertive on both ends of the floor,” Mitchell added of Allen's mindset with Harden. “He's up in the pick and roll. He's on the boards. He's getting the ball in the paint. Sometimes we feel like he's surrounded by four guys and he's still getting there, finishing through contact. It's the most aggressive I've ever seen him. And this was before James. And now, you add James, and it's like a whole ‘nother layer. He's being really assertive, and we need that.”
It also helps to have healed up from two separate, nagging finger injuries that happened early in the season.
“I mean, he was really struggling with the broken fingers,” Atkinson said. “He tried to play through it. And then, we sat him out for a couple of weeks, right, and we paid for it [in the] wins-and-loss column, but we had to get him right. I think him being healthy, [it's] definitely a part of it.”
What Kenny Atkinson said to Jarrett Allen to lock him in
And yet, the primary reason he's been playing with an edge every night is due to neither of those reasons.
“Kenny challenged me,” Allen said. “Evan was out, Evan hurt his calf, he told me, came up to me and said, ‘You're going to have to pick it up. You're going to have to make up for the loss of rim protection, the loss of offensive ability.' And I took it to heart. I went out there and honestly just started having fun and not really caring about the mistakes that I was going to make, and just playing freely, and it's been working for me.
“I always try to say I'm the perfect soldier. You tell me to do something, I'm gonna blindly go do it, whether I believe it or not. And it's just been working.”
Mitchell raised his head in his last postgame interview as he set his sights on Allen with open ears.
“Hopefully, we continue this into March, right?”
Cunningham and the Pistons are in town for a rematch of a classic, wild overtime game between the two just four days ago.
The expectation is now set for Allen, even with Mobley back in the fold, which means the Cavs must continue to find The Fro down low.
