Cleveland Cavaliers must survive without Jarrett Allen after recent injury

The Cleveland Cavaliers will have to survive without Jarrett Allen for a while. 

Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star center Jarrett Allen is sidelined indefinitely after suffering a fractured finger vs. the Toronto Raptors Sunday night. Allen only played 10 minutes in the game.

This is not ideal news for Cavaliers fans who are looking for the team to make a strong push in the playoffs.

Allen is having a career year in multiple statistics like points, rebounds, and field goal percentage. The Cavs are will try to replace the effort and size that Allen brings to the court every game. He is not an easy player to replace.

It will be interesting to see what Cleveland’s head coach J. B. Bickerstaff will do with the lineup to replace the size missing. Will he bring in the veteran Kevin Love and use his high basketball IQ and skill, or will he bump Evan Mobley and Lauri Markkanen to the C and PF positions while inserting Cedi Osman into the starting lineup?

My personal choice would be to move Markkanen to the PF and move Mobley to the C, and give Osman the start. Both of them have the ability to play multiple positions on the court being 7-footers. In addition to the injury to Allen, the Cavs have also been without guards Rajon Rondo (toe) and Caris LeVert (foot) who were both ruled out of Sunday’s game vs. Toronto. The good news is that these aren’t likely long-term injuries and the team should have them back soon.

The loss of Allen, on the other hand, appears to be for the foreseeable future is not ideal for Cleveland. They have recently dropped to sixth in the Eastern Conference standings. Only 18 games remain for the Cavs regular season, and being in the Play-In Tournament is now definitely a possibility if Cleveland can’t string more wins together.

Cleveland’s head coach J. B. Bickerstaff had this to say about Allen’s injury:

"“Jarrett Allen left with a quad injury and then he started pointing out other areas hurt when he touched them and that’s when we diagnosed the broken finger.”"

With just under a month left in the regular season, Cleveland does not have much time before the playoffs start. And there’s no guarantee that Allen will be ready in time or even make an appearance. The Cavs will have to adapt and win without him, or at least try to do so.