The Cleveland Cavaliers picked up their sixth win in their last seven games thanks to a 40-ball from Jarrett Allen that helped lead them past the Portland Trail Blazers 130-111.
Allen is incredibly skilled offensively. His footwork, touch around the rim, quickness, and passing are advanced for someone at his position. That was on display as he ran around, over, and through Portland’s hapless center, Donovan Clingan, all evening.
The 40-point performance is what’s going to get the headlines, but the variety
of ways Allen was able to score is what was most impressive.
He was a force in transition, beating his man down the floor. This created easy baskets if the defense forgot about him, and also allowed him to get smaller defenders caught in deep seals. This created driving lanes for others, as there are very few things that disrupt a defense as much as a mismatch right at the start of a possession.
Allen also consistently made the right move out of dribble-hand-offs. If his defender gave him room, Allen created space for the guard. If the center came up, Allen went around him for the drive to the hoop.
Then, there was the pick-and-roll game. He found ways to finish and create space for the ball handler in those situations. The vertical spacing he provides is incredibly valuable when the team is down two of its top scorers.
And lastly, Allen just did a good job of scoring on the block. He displayed his post moves, using up-and-unders and hook shots, to create angles inside.
Overall, it was just a completely dominant offensive showing from Allen, who did all of this in under 30 minutes and registered five assists as well.
As if the 40-ball wasn’t enough, Allen was also the best defender on the court. He completely controlled the glass with 17 rebounds, had four rejections, and added two steals just for fun. His defensive effort buoyed the Cavs on a night they started a little helter-skelter on that end.
Allen put up one of the most ridiculous stat lines in NBA history. I’m generally not a fan of cherry-picked stats, but you can tell if one is good based on the company of the other people in the club. And if you’re a center, you want to be in any group that features Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal.
Games like this show how good Allen is, but also why his typical inconsistent play can be so infuriating. It’s fair to point out that Portland isn’t exactly built to stop Allen. Their defense wasn’t disciplined, which allowed someone who was steadily and consistently executing to have a big night. But that doesn’t account for all of Allen’s success.
We’ve consistently seen that Allen is at his best when Evan Mobley is unavailable. Allen’s most impressive stretch of basketball as a Cavalier came in the 2023-24 season with Mobley out of the lineup. And now, we’re seeing that again in a similar situation.
This would be explainable if it were simply that Allen’s offensive game doesn’t mesh with Mobley’s. And while it’s true that Allen now has much more room to operate offensively, he also plays just over half of his minutes each game with Mobley when both are available. The duo is playing an average of 15.4 minutes a night together. Overall, Allen is averaging 27.1 minutes per game.
If it were simply a spacing issue, we should see some version of this Allen when Mobley is on the bench. However, the difference is more so in how Allen seems to approach the game when he’s the only center.
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Allen plays with much more force and aggression when Mobley is unavailable. His skill set requires him to play that way to be effective. A center coasting through games isn’t going to have the necessary impact on either end of the floor. Their presence needs to be felt at all times if they’re mostly a paint-bound big.
I’m not sure how you get around this issue. Force-feeding Allen early in games would help. It’s certainly something the team should be prioritizing. But it’s also true that Allen’s effort shouldn’t be dependent on who’s in or out of the lineup. He’s far too good a player to have his energy fluctuate so dramatically on a night-to-night basis.
Ultimately, that’s only something Allen can fix.
Sam Merrill’s shooting can open up the game for everyone else. He went 6-8 from beyond the arc. This went a long way in Cleveland, finishing the game going 16-34 (47.1%) from three.
The havoc Merrill causes when he shoots this well is incredibly helpful for an offense. Defenders were closing out incredibly hard every time Merrill came off a screen. This led to him having four assists and helped open up lanes inside for his teammates.
It’s no surprise the Cavs had a 141.3 offensive rating when Merrill was on the floor. That number tied Allen for the highest mark on the team. Merrill playing this well simply unlocks the entire offensive attack.
Craig Porter Jr. continues to have an impact as a facilitator. He didn’t look to score, but was able to get his teammates involved by picking up a career-high 12 assists.
Porter’s feel for the game was on complete display. He did a great job of finding the open man by making the simple, correct pass time after time. This included hitting Allen in the pick-and-roll, Jaylon Tyson in the short roll, and Merrill coming off screens.
The Cavs needed someone to provide extra playmaking duties while they wait for Dennis Schroder to join them for Wednesday’s game. Porter more than stepped up on Sunday.
