Cleveland Cavaliers big man Jarrett Allen suffered a right hand injury in his team’s 142-105 victory over the New York Knicks on Friday night.
Allen attempted to play through the pain in the second half before eventually being ruled out of the contest. He’s expected to undergo an MRI on the weekend to determine the severity of the injury.
“X-rays were negative, so that’s good,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I do think he’s going to get an MRI tomorrow. He came up to me during the game. He goes, ‘It’s really bothering me. I’m not going to be able to finish.’ But good X-rays were negative.”
While it’s unclear when exactly the injury occurred, some have speculated it may have happened in the first quarter on a shot block attempt by Allen. Replays don’t appear to show the 26 year old in any visible pain, or awkward movements, leading many to believe it may be a minor issue which flared up as the game went on.
With the score already out of hand in the team’s largest victory over the Knicks in franchise history, Cleveland could afford to play it safe with Allen down the stretch.
Across 56 games this season, Allen has averaged 13.6 points per game to go along with 10.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.9 blocks, and 0.9 steals. All while shooting 70.6 percent from the floor.
If Allen is forced to miss any time, Evan Mobley would likely shift to centre, opening up a forward spot in the starting lineup. If that were the case, De’Andre Hunter, Dean Wade, and Isaac Okoro are all candidates who could see an increase in minutes moving forward.
Cleveland has an off day on Saturday before taking on the Memphis Grizzlies Sunday night in a 7pm ET showdown.
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.