Jarrett Allen | Cavs vs Clippers Post Game | 1.29.2024

Jarrett Allen | Cavs vs Clippers Post Game | 1.29.2024

We talked to a good amount of guys today saying that Isaac needs to be in the all defensive team conversation do you advise that to be true I think so he’s the type of guy that leads our defense uh and he has a tough job we just put

Him on anybody and everybody and kind of just tell him to figure it out you know and that’s not easy to do in this league but every single night he does an excellent job at it and we also mentioned that you Isaac you guys are kind of the core of

That defense with Evan being out now with Evan being back feels like you guys have the entire group how is that going to change with Evan being back and how have you seen your defensive prowess grow right uh it’s just going to change the lineup the core is still going to be

There we can expand the core of the four you know now that evans’s back he’s only going to add more defensive prowess to the team and it’s going to make us even better on that end hey J hey how you doing you got some been convinced during this stretch that

Even when Evan comes back and and Darius comes back you can still play the same way offensively and defensively you can still have the same Rhythm it looked that way again tonight um why were you so convinced and and what does bringing Evan back do uh that’s just a testament

To our team a testament to JB just everybody in this Cavs organization they get guys who are willing to buy in who are willing to sacrifice for this team and not just think all about them like you said it showed tonight that we able to play the same basketball that was

Winning Us games on the stretch when everybody was out so it’s just a kudos to everybody what did you see from Evan tonight in his return and how much of an impact do you think he can make moving forward yeah first it’s it’s good to see Evan back being injured like that having

To watch the team play without you go do everything without you it’s not easy but you know Evan stayed locked in he did his treatment he did everything he could to come back in a timely manner and now that he’s back he did excellent tonight what almost a double double blocking

Shots catching lobs bringing the ball up the court you know starting to pick and roll uh he’s looking like his old self again I mean it was six weeks ago when he had knee surgery right and the initial timeline was 6 to 8 weeks like

In any way do you Marvel at how quick this kid recovers from injuries yeah I mean we’re still young you know you know I think we could take advantage of that why we still have these bodies that can recover from surgeries and injuries in the timely manner but like I said he he

Took the injury seriously he took the recover seriously uh did all the treatments did all the weight room stuff and he got better quickly uh Jackson flicking to right down ID uh so Donovan has been the point guard for the last month and a half how have you seen his game develop during

This time considering this is a lot probably the last game he’s playing that role yeah uh just his ability to find people on not picking rolls uh kicking out to the corner I feel like the game slowing down for him as a point guard uh he’s made some incredible passes to the

Corner Corner when the man’s helping even to me some I know last game he had a dime behind the head to me or whatever that was uh just his ability to see the floor and find the open man uh were you surprised your teammates didn’t know what a mat was I not really

Not really you know I grew up with theater you I grew up watching shows so I I feel like I had to know whether a mat was did you hear Isaac’s explanation of what mat met and he confident in it too we had no idea but we have mat a game so

You’ think they would know more on a basketball note um you there’s a lot of possessions where the Clippers try to force kawhai onto you and it’s just you know another defensive assignment where you’re defending a guy in isolation space do you just relish those opportunities and like maybe

Proving opponent’s wrong like hey I’m actually pretty comfortable doing this uh I’ll be honest I’m not the most comfortable doing it you know it’s it’s not something I’m used to the team always says funnel everything to me I’m used to being the guy down there and watching Dean or Isaac guard those guys

But it’s something new that I need to learn it didn’t something that I’m able to learn you I didn’t do the best job toight tonight in my opinion but I was able to talk to our defensive coach and he’s giving me pointers about how to get better last one hey Jared um obviously

You’re you know JB and your teammates have been talking about an Allstar for you for a while and been playing really well um you know coming back and Darius coach said he’s really close to returning to right um what’s your mentality about you know obviously they’re going to be coming back but you

Know what can you do and what what’s your look at remaining as effective as you’ve been in the stretch of that right um just keep playing the ball that I’ve been playing I know it’s not going to be the four round one spacing that we’re

Used to that uh we’re able to kick the ball out to anybody um but it’s still effective BAS you know this team won 51 teams with having these this two big lineup and having Darius there too so it’s not going to slow us down I think

We still have a lot to build off of having all four of our core back so I’m looking forward to having everybody back and playing the best basketball

Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen spoke with the media following a 118-108 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on January 29, 2024 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.