The Cleveland Cavaliers announced Monday night that Jarrett Allen will miss the team's upcoming three-game road trip with knee tendinitis, which will extend his absence to 18 days since initially sustaining the injury. The Cavs are 2-3 without February's Eastern Conference Player of the Month in their lineup, and there's reason to be uneasy. The setback is being considered minor, but it will have been at least over two weeks since Allen last suited up.
“I still think it's day-to-day,” Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson said on Sunday afternoon. “That's where we are with it. I wish I could get more specific. But I don't anticipate this to be long-term. He's just working through some pretty severe tendinitis, and sometimes it happens during the season, right?
“Especially after the stretch he had and the usage he had. So I'm thinking it's just going to be this little break, and we'll get him back in the mix pretty soon.”
In two of the Cavs' last three games, they've given up 128 and 130 points to the Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks. The former shot 51.8% from the field, with 37 attempts at the free-throw line, and the latter shot 52.9%, with 27 tries at the charity stripe, indicative of a bad habit.
Much of the issue can be blamed on a defense that isn't consistently guarding on the perimeter, one that is lacking a crucial rim protector in Allen. Combine those two factors, and it's difficult to hold opponents in check.
“Especially now that we don't have J.A. back there, sometimes, we're five smalls,” Cavs All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell said postgame after a “bad loss” to the Mavs of the need to improve the defense. “[We have to be better at] being able to guard, and if we get beat, [making] the [right] rotations, and then, keeping them off the glass. Even though we do sometimes play small ball, it's no excuse. I think that's the biggest thing. I think our defense was the only issue.”
Cavs' defense needs to improve
After dropping a game against the Orlando Magic last week, James Harden had a similar message: Cleveland needed to be better on that side of the floor.
“Communication, knowing who we're guarding,” Harden said. “The matchup changed possession-by-possession. This team did a really good job, and they do it every game, of forcing the ball in the paint, and we just didn't have any resistance. [The Magic] shot an unbelievable percentage by the basket, and they got to the line too many times. Something that we can fix, we can control.”
“I think early on, we let 'em get to the rim a little too easy,” Keon Ellis added. “They're a rim team, so I think that's what kinda had them rolling first… maybe if it's closing out shorter, making them think about shooting it to try to slow them down. That's probably first because they want to get to the rim, so they're gonna drive and drive and drive. Try to make them live from outside.”
According to the star duo, this Cavs bunch has too much talent to be concerned with putting the ball in the bucket.
“Offensively, we're so talented. Defensively is where we need to be better at,” Harden said. “We can score with the best of 'em. It's coming down to consistently getting stops and relying on our defense to win us games.”
“I mean, I'm not really worried about the offensive piece,” Mitchell added. “We had 16 turnovers for 25 points; that impacts your transition defense. You can't get set as well, even when we have Evan [Mobley] at the 5. But I think the biggest thing is just containing the ball and then also being there on our rotations. It's just the finer details, and we've got to be better.”
Mobley has had success when Allen has been absent, but he's also usually been able to depend on perimeter players holding their own. Mitchell pointed it out specifically on Sunday, but Cleveland hasn't been able to keep anybody in front for a week. That results in overhelp, which takes teammates out of their spots and ultimately allows opponents to touch the paint.
From there, they're either scoring, getting to the free throw line, or kicking out to shoot or start a swing-swing sequence. The Cavs start scrambling, and then it becomes a world of hurt.
“You could look at my postgame comments against Orlando, right? Very, very similar,” Atkinson said. “I think it's a very, very similar game. Just too permissive on the defensive end. And I just told the guys, it starts with that first unit. Just not good enough defensively. They never felt us. They got comfortable. They got confidence, and then, it’s kind of the same story, right? We've got really good defenders in that lineup, so kind of an inexcusable defensive effort today.
“Give Dallas credit. I just thought their energy level was higher. But, when your energy levels not there — sometimes you have games where it's not there — now you have to use your kind of savvy and experience and be in the right positions. You might not have a game where you're super active, and that happens, but there were way too many mental breakdowns.”
Besides praising Max Strus for a valiant comeback effort and season debut, Atkinson used his full press conference to discuss the defense.
He even second-guessed himself over whether Cleveland should've switched 1-through-5 as a challenge to the group to prepare for the playoffs, because “that's not what we normally do.” But describing the effort as permissive feels like a real red flag this late into the season.
“We showed four or five clips where we're not touching them,” Atkinson told ClutchPoints in the press room. “In a switching defense, you've got to control the screener. You've got to slow up the screener, right? You've got to be into the ball. We're playing man-to-man, but it was like, we're in a zone because we were so detached. And in the NBA, if teams are that comfortable, shots are easier. They don't get worn down physically, so they're fresher to make shots.”
Taking care of the basketball matters, too.
“I'd just say the last thing where I knew the focus wasn’t [there], I think we had 12 live-ball turnovers,” Atkinson said. “Some of that was spacing. Some of that was the lineups. Maybe I threw some out there with not enough shooting, so that was a big part of it also.
“Live-ball turnovers are death. I hope that doesn't sound too harsh, but they are. If you have a live-ball turnover above the free-throw line, it's probably going to be a layup. You can't stop it.”
Cavs are banged up again, but the depth needs to shine defensively
It should be noted that Sam Merrill has missed the last two games due to a hamstring injury, and Jaylon Tyson injured his ankle in Dallas last Friday. Those are key pieces to the perimeter.
However, Ellis is known for his ball pressure and technique, and Dean Wade is a top-notch defender with his versatility, so that would be giving the Cavs too easy an out.
Mitchell and Harden's messaging is correct, but they've got to hold up their end of the bargain on this as well.
Sometimes, Cleveland's wings act a little too lax because of the frontcourt threats behind them. And though putting this defensive dip on Allen's absence from the lineup may be a bit much for one player, it undoubtedly underscores his importance to the squad.
