The Cleveland Cavaliers have been bitten by the injury bug to start the season. Jarrett Allen is the latest Cavalier to get bit. He injured his left ring finger in Wednesday’s loss to the Boston Celtics.
The team announced that Allen has a non-displaced fracture of his distal phalanx. He is listed as questionable for Friday’s game against the Toronto Raptors.
Allen isn’t the only opening night starter on the injury report. The Cavaliers will be without the services of Sam Merrill (hip contusion) in addition to still being without Darius Garland (toe) and Max Strus (broken foot). Donovan Mitchell is also questionable again with left hamstring tightness.
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Losing either Mitchell or Allen would be a big blow for a Cavaliers team that has looked out of sync. Mitchell didn’t play like his usual self in the loss to the Celtics. Only three of his 12 field-goal attempts came from inside the arc, and he simply didn’t have the explosiveness that we’ve been used to seeing.
Rebounding has been a consistent issue for the Cavs this season. Allen has been the team’s best rebounder for the last several years. Losing him would only exaggerate the problem.
The Raptors aren’t expected to be a great team, but the remaining Cavaliers will need to play well if they’re going to get by with a win. Cleveland could use big scoring nights from both Evan Mobley and De’Andre Hunter. Lonzo Ball’s playmaking will also be needed even more than it already has been.
Toronto will be without Jakob Poeltl. He’ll miss Friday’s game with lower back tightness.
We’ll see if this skeleton crew version of the Cavs can pull out a win on Halloween.
