The Blazers had no answer for Allen.
The Cleveland Cavaliers rebounded from a poor showing against the Phoenix Suns on Friday by taking it to the Portland Trail Blazers with a 130-111 victory. Jarrett Allen’s 40-point performance led the way.
Allen was simply the best player on the court in what was the most impressive game of his entire career. Portland had absolutely no hope of stopping him inside, as he continually found creative ways to get to the basket. Poor Donovan Clingan didn’t have a chance of stopping Allen. All he could do was put up as much resistance as possible, which honestly wasn’t much at the end of the day.
This all led to a career-high 40 points on 16-23 shooting in the win to go along with five assists.
Allen wasn’t just the best offensive player, he was also the best on the other end as well. Allen controlled the paint defensively as he came down with 17 rebounds, registered four blocks, and even threw in two steals for good measure.
It was a completely dominant performance for Allen.
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Aside from Allen’s impressive showing, it was an overall weird game. The Cavs were without Evan Mobley (calf) and Darius Garland (foot) while the Blazers had to play without Deni Avdija (back), Scoot Henderson (hamstring), and Jrue Holiday (personal). Combine that with the fact that both teams just made trades and are in a position to make more, and it’s easy to see how you could get an odd showing.
This led to a somewhat disjointed first half for both teams, with the Cavs taking a nine-point advantage into the break thanks to Allen’s 25 first-half points.
The Cavs then broke things open in the third quarter. They won that frame 41-30 largely due to going 6-11 from three. Sam Merrill contributed two of those triples on a night he had it going from the outside.
The Trail Blazers fought back from what was a 24-point fourth-quarter deficit at one point. They cut the lead down to 10, forcing Cleveland to keep their starters in for most of the evening, but weren’t able to really make things interesting down the stretch.
Merrill seemingly couldn’t miss from beyond the arc. He went 6-8 from three en route to a 22-point performance.
Jaylon Tyson had another solid showing, despite the four turnovers. He went 7-12 from the field with 18 points on 4-4 shooting from deep to go along with six assists.
Donovan Mitchell didn’t have it going as a scorer, but he did a good job of setting up his teammates. He provided a game-high nine assists. Mitchell finished with 14 points on 6-15 shooting.
The Blazers were led by 21 points from Caleb Love. Shaedon Sharpe provided 20 points in the loss.
The Cavs have now won six of their last seven, nine of their last 12, and 13 of their last 17 games.
Their Western Conference road trip will continue as they take on the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday. Tip-off is at 10:30 PM.
Category: General Sports
