Jarrett Allen dominating Cavs' first-round series a year after disappointing in playoffs

CLEVELAND — No one is named the Most Valuable Player of a first-round NBA postseason series, let alone honored for two games.

But Cavaliers center Jarret Allen could be viewed as an unofficial MVP in the early stages of Cleveland's best-of-seven Eastern Conference series with the Orlando Magic.

A year after Allen publicly lamented his disappointing performance in the Cavs' 4-1 first-round loss to the New York Knicks, he has dominated his return to the playoffs.

The fourth-seeded Cavs lead the fifth-seeded Magic 2-0 as the series moves to Orlando for Game 3 Thursday night. In two games, Allen has compiled 32 points, 38 rebounds (26 defensive and 12 offense), five assists, four steals and three blocked shots.

“He's unbelievable," Cavs small forward Max Strus said after Game 2. "He's shown and proven that he's one of the best bigs in the NBA, and he's continuing to do that. He's been awesome, sensational, all year for us, and [we need to] continue to play off his coattails and him controlling the boards.”

The Cavs defeated the Magic 97-83 in Game 1 Saturday and 96-86 in Game 2 Monday. Cleveland has yet to trail in the series.

Allen conceded he has been able to sense the Cavs breaking the Magic's will "a little bit," yet he realizes it would be premature to take a victory lap.

"We know when we go to their place, they are going to be a completely different team," Allen said. "They’re going to have their home crowd behind them. They don't want it to get to 3-0. They’re going to try to come at us like we’ve been doing to them."

In the past two games, Allen has recorded the fourth and fifth postseason double-doubles of his career (16 points and 18 rebounds in Game 1 and 16 points and 20 rebounds in Game 2). Allen's 20 rebounds in Game 2 were the second most by a Cleveland player in Cavs playoff history (Kevin Love had 21 in 2017), and his nine offensive rebounds also ranked second in the franchise's single-game postseason records (Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 10 in 2007).

"He's elite around the rim, in the paint, rebounding, finishing plays, blocking shots," Magic All-Star forward Paolo Banchero said. "He's dominating right now. We've got to find a way to neutralize it."

In the buildup to the series, Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff challenged Allen and forward Evan Mobley to outrebound the Magic a year after the Cavs lost the battle on the boards 227-186 to the Knicks. Mobley grabbed 11 rebounds in Game 1 and seven in Game 2, modest numbers compared with Allen's production.

"He's been phenomenal understanding what is necessary and then going and doing whatever he can to impact it," Bickerstaff said of Allen. "We knew that this series was going to be won in the interior. We knew that we were going to have to do a great job on the boards in back-to-back nights. He's taken it upon himself to make sure we win that battle.

"We're not here without his effort, and you watch it. It's not easy in there, right? I mean, there's grabbing, holding, hitting, but somehow, someway he keeps finding a way to come up with the basketball, whether it's offensive rebounds to give us extra possessions or closing out possessions on the defensive end."

Allen has continued to anchor the Cleveland defense, helping the Cavs limit the Magic to fewer than 90 points in each of the first two playoff games. This is all happening on the heels of Allen's critics calling him "soft" after the Knicks were cast as the bullies and physical aggressors in April 2023.

Allen said he's "more comfortable" with his approach to the game and his role than he was a year ago. He opined the Cavs have grown as individuals as well as a collective unit and "we are not folding under pressure" as a result.

Still, two games is a small sample size — a fact Allen basically pointed out. It's worth noting his production plummeted as last year's series with the Knicks progressed. He had 14 points and 14 rebounds in Game 1 and nine points and 10 rebounds in Game 2. Then he had just six points and five rebounds in Game 3, 14 points and four rebounds in Game 4 and four points and four rebounds in Game 5.

"It’s not really important for me to change my reputation," Allen said. "I know who I am as a person. But I know the reputation has still not changed. We’re only two games in. Do we want to change it as a team? Probably. We want to be known as a team that will go out there and fight every single night. We still have a long way to go for that."

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All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, the series' leading scorer with 30 points in Game 1 and 23 in Game 2, doesn't buy the "soft" label as an accurate description of Allen.

“I think he's a prideful individual, and I think the way it happened last year, you could see it's a motivating thing," Mitchell said. "I think it goes without saying: I think he's shown himself to us all season. I had no doubt that this is who he would be.

“Sometimes you have a bad playoff series. Believe me, I know how that is. For him to respond this way, it's phenomenal to see. But my challenge to him, my challenge to Ev is like, ‘Done it twice. Do it again and again. Let's do it on the road now. Let's do it when we don't have the [home] crowd. Let’s do it when they go on a run and [Orlando's arena] is rocking.’"

So far, Allen has met all challenges in this series.

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Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jarrett Allen dominating as Cavs lead Magic in NBA playoffs