Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen listed as questionable for play-in game
The Cavaliers may have injured center Jarrett Allen back Friday night as they try to keep their season alive.
Allen was listed as questionable on the league’s injury report for the 7:30 p.m. NBA play-in tournament game against the Atlanta Hawks at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that Allen will try to play.
All-Star Allen fractured his left middle finger against the Toronto Raptors on March 6 and has missed 19 consecutive games.
The Cavs will battle the Hawks for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The winner will take on the Miami Heat in a seven-game series that opens Sunday at 1 p.m. at FTX Arena.
The Cavs went 1-3 in the season series against the Hawks and Atlanta’s two-time All-Star guard Trae Young averaged 32.5 points in the four games.
Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Allen "did all that we did" on Thursday, but that only consisted of a walk-through.
Asked if Allen had played any three-on-three or done any such scrimmaging, Bickerstaff said, "He’s done some stuff against coaches and things like that, things that have been really, really controlled."
Allen has gone through on-court work and has been shooting with his left hand for a while, but has not participated in team drills.
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Allen averaged 16.1 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots and shot .677 from the field in 56 regular-season games for the Cavs (44-38).
Going into the March 6 game when Allen was hurt, the Cavs’ defensive rating of 106.5 was fourth in the league in the first 64 games. From March 7 to the end of the regular season, their rating slipped to 117.3, 21st in the NBA in that 18-game span.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Cavs at www.beaconjournal.com/cavs. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.