The Cleveland Cavaliers bounced back from a poor performance against the Phoenix Suns on Friday by defeating 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 had no chance to stop Allen. All he could do was put up as much resistance as possible, which honestly wasn’t much at the end of the day.
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All of this led to a career-high 40 points on 16-for-23 shooting in the win, along with five assists.
Allen was not only the best offensive player, he was also the best on the other end. Allen controlled the paint defensively while grabbing 17 rebounds, recording four blocks and even making two steals for good measure.
It was a completely dominant performance for Allen.
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Aside from Allen’s impressive performance, it was a strange game overall. 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 position to win more, and it’s easy to see how a strange showing could happen.
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This led to a somewhat disjointed first half for both teams, with the Cavs taking a nine-point halftime lead thanks to Allen’s 25 first-half points.
The Cavs then opened the scoring in the third quarter. They won that frame 41-30 in large part because they went 6-11 in three. Sam Merrill contributed two of those triples on a night that had him coming from outside.
The Trail Blazers at one point rallied from what was a 24-point deficit in the fourth quarter. They cut the lead to 10, forcing Cleveland to keep their starters for most of the night, but they couldn’t really make things interesting down the stretch.
Merrill seemingly couldn’t miss from beyond the arc. He went 6-8 on 3-pointers en route to a 22-point performance.
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Jaylon Tyson had another solid performance, despite four turnovers. He was 7-12 from the field with 18 points and 4-4 shooting from deep along with six assists.
Donovan Mitchell didn’t have it as a scorer, but he did a good job 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 contributed 20 points in the loss.
The Cavs have won six of their last seven, nine of their last 12 and 13 of their last 17 games.
Their Western Conference tour will continue when they face the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday. The warning is at 10:30 p.m.